Source: Nell Reed / Delta Sigma Theta
Texas Southern University Alumna Anna Pearl Barrett and the Houston Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated are doing something amazing for students who will step on campus in the future.
The sorority presented the HBCU with a $150,500 check from Barrett’s bequest to the sorority, which Texas Southern University’s Foundation matched to create one of the institution’s largest endowments: the creation of the Anna Pearl Barrett Houston Alumnae Chapter, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Memorial Endowed Scholarship.
The $301,000 investment will financially assist students who desire to study in other countries and happens to fulfill one of the goals of International Awareness and Involvement, part of DST’s Five-Point Programmatic Thrust.
Barrett, a career educator who passed in 2014, was the first TSU exchange student to study in Spain. The school’s study abroad program began its initial journey to Tanzania in 2001 and today, more than 100 students travel abroad every year, per Gregory Maddox, Ph.D., Dean of the Graduate School and Director of International Programs. The scholarship helps raise the profile of studying abroad. According to the Institute of International Education, undergrad students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities participate in study abroad programs at lower rates than their counterparts across the U.S.
The Anna Pearl Barrett Memorial Endowed Scholarship was celebrated with a reception hosted earlier this month at TSU and attended by more than 200 Deltas as well as Barrett’s relatives, Mayor Sylvester Turner, TSU Acting President Ken Huewitt, TSU Vice President of University Advancement Melinda Spaulding, and a representative from the Office of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.
“Our beloved soror, Anna Pearl Barrett, gave back,” Houston Alumnae Chapter President Jona Sargent said at the event before expressing gratitude to the Barrett family. “In grateful remembrance to our beloved soror, we say: Thank you.”
She added, “The Houston Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. has a strong history of providing college scholarships to several deserving students. The impact of the Anna Pearl Barrett Endowment Scholarship allows our organization to extend efforts of providing financial aid to enrich the collegiate experience through cultural awareness and international travel.”
