Charles Freeman Stamper presented the Caldwell Parish Morris Endowed Scholarship to ULM’s foundation scholarship board last week.

Stamper said that the scholarship was initiated in memory of his high school English teacher, Frances Morris, from Caldwell Parish High School. She helped Stamper through the college application process as well as helped him get financial aid.

However, Morris didn’t just help Stamper—She touched the lives of many members of the Caldwell Parish community. So, the parish came together and over 32 years, was able to accumulate $25,000 of grant money.

“The money raised by Caldwell Parish was added to a bank account and then the bank account was invested in CDs, but that became too cumbersome for them to administer so after they consulted me, we discovered that with the amount of money they had, we could start an endowed scholarship,” Stamper said.

An endowed scholarship is one that can never be invaded and only the earnings off of those funds can be used. So, the money awarded to the students is obtained from the earnings of the CDs.

To receive the scholarship, students must have a 3.0 GPA in both their cumulative and English GPA. The scholarship is intended to assist students who graduate from Caldwell Parish High School by the citizens of Caldwell Parish in honor of Morris.

Morris’s daughter, Fran Childress, said she felt very honored that the community wanted to honor her mother in such a way.

“I am very touched and honored by this,” Childress said. “She was a very strong woman who adored teaching. To see that people are still benefiting from her teachings, she would be thrilled about this.”

Childress is also an alum of ULM and said that considering what students have to do to get through college, every little bit helps as far as financial aid goes. Childress said the Caldwell Parish Morris Endowed Scholarship will encourage recipients to continue their higher education when things get tough.

Stamper has made invaluable contributions to ULM more than one time. Previously, he introduced a scholarship called the Frances Morris Memorial Scholarship which was the first scholarship established at ULM to help students that struggle with their sexual orientation.