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Jim and Shirley Beasley Scholarship

Couple poses for a photo inside their home
Shirley & Jim Beasley

Over the final days of Jim Beasley’s life, family members took note of the kindness and caring shown by SCC students as they made their clinical rounds this past summer at Harris Regional Hospital.

“It seemed like every other person who came in his room was an SCC student,” recalled Jenny Holland, Beasley’s niece. “Whether it was for an X-ray, the ventilator, to draw blood or something else, the SCC students were so kind and so compassionate. Even if Uncle Jim wasn’t conscious, they would gently pat him and talk to him. You could just see they cared.”

To honor Jim and his wife Shirley – and to help future SCC health sciences students - the family has endowed the Jim and Shirley Beasley Health Sciences Endowed Scholarship Fund.

The principal will remain untouched in perpetuity while a portion of the earnings from the investment of the fund will be made available to support SCC health sciences students pursuing an associate or WNC RIBN (Regionally Increasing Baccalaureate Nurses) degree.

“We are pleased and very humbled that the family chose to honor Jim and Shirley Beasley in this way,” said Dr. Don Tomas, president of SCC. “It’s great to hear positive reports about how our health sciences students and graduates conduct themselves when they’re in a clinical setting, and I know so much of the credit for that goes to our faculty and staff.”

SCC currently has 14 health sciences programs and is in the process of planning a new health sciences building.

Once that building is completed, SCC will be able to accept more health sciences students than ever – so the new scholarship is particularly timely.

“Aunt Shirley and Uncle Jim helped a lot of people over the years,” Holland said. “We feel good about helping people with a scholarship in their names. When we help students in SCC’s health sciences programs, we feel like we’re helping each other because at some point we’ll all need help from medical professionals.

“Our family would like to thank everyone who donated to the scholarship in Uncle Jim’s memory,” Holland added.

Following are criteria necessary to apply for this scholarship:

  • Applicant must be seeking an AAS Degree or WNC RIBN Degree in Health Sciences 
  • Applicant must have a 3.0 or higher GPA\

For more about this scholarship, click here.

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