University celebrates students, donors during annual ‘Powering Dreams’ event

Northwest Missouri State University students came face-to-face Sunday afternoon with the alumni and friends who support them through their contributions to University scholarships during the annual “Powering Dreams” celebration of donors and scholars at the Agricultural Learning Center.

Dr. Lance Tatum

Leah Mayfield

Paige Jensen

Mercedes Ramirez Johnson

Dr. Elyssa Ford

The celebration provides an opportunity for students to not only thank donors for their investment but also exchange stories about their experiences at Northwest and their career plans.

“The scholarship dollars each year that we receive are such an essential part of how we support our students at Northwest,” University President Dr. Lance Tatum said. “Simply put, scholarships allow us to compete for the very best and brightest students and they provide critical financial support to students who otherwise would not be afforded a chance to seek a college education.”

Among the scholarship recipients attending Sunday’s event was Leah Mayfield, a freshman political science major and criminal justice minor from Kearney, Missouri, who received the Green Family Scholarship for the 2024-25 academic year. She hopes to one day secure employment with the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

“Having this scholarship along with others has helped ease the financial burden that college comes with,” she said. “It has enabled me to attend Northwest to help prepare me to pursue a career in law enforcement after college. Without having these scholarships available I most likely would not have been able to attend this college.”

Paige Jensen, a senior agricultural media major from Atlantic, Iowa, received the MBE Scholarship awarded to upper-class female students pursuing agriculture degrees. She also expressed gratitude to donors, whose financial support has allowed her to build her network and skill set with access to facilities such as the Agricultural Learning Center, a centerpiece of Northwest’s highly successful Forever Green comprehensive campaign.

“I cannot begin to describe how much generous scholarships like this mean to me,” Jensen said. “I no longer have to worry about the financial burden of attending school and can focus on my studies instead. This gift will go toward the total amount of my tuition and I deeply appreciate every single donor.”

Donors attending Sunday’s event included Mercedes Ramirez Johnson, a 1997 Northwest graduate, who established the Benjamin and Mercedes Ramirez Memorial Scholarship Fund through the Northwest Foundation to honor her parents. Her mother immigrated to the United States from Nicaragua, and her father immigrated from Colombia. Due to political unrest in his native country, Benjamin was forced to end his schooling in the third grade and began working to help support his large family with seven siblings.

“I know that my parents are very, very proud that not only their legacy is living on, but the legacy of everybody in this room is helping to prove that the American dream still does exist, and the American dream really does come true when you’re inclusive and kind and empathetic to people who are like you and to people who are not like you,” Ramirez Johnson said.

Speaking on behalf of Northwest faculty, Dr. Elyssa Ford, a professor of history and member of the scholarship committee in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, noted the value scholarships have for high-achieving students as well as students with financial need. Last summer, she worked with the Nodaway County Historical Society in Maryville and local donors who provided financial support to assist two students in Northwest’s public history and museum studies program so they could earn internship credits at the history museum.

“These students gained important experience for their own future careers by designing exhibits and working directly with museum collections and historic artifacts,” Ford said. “It is important to me to help find funding for student work like this, and I encourage donors to consider supporting internship and student teaching scholarships that would permit students to focus on the experience they are gaining rather than dividing their focus with concerns about financial survival.”

Scholarship support remains a central mission of the Northwest Foundation, which funded more than 1,400 scholarship awards for Northwest students during the last fiscal year. Scholarship funding through the Foundation during FY24 totaled nearly $1.4 million, while the average scholarship amount awarded from donor-funded scholarships during the year was $974.

For more information about ways to contribute to scholarships or make a gift to support Northwest, contact the Office of University Advancement at 660.562.1248 or advance@nwmissouri.edu.