TAMPA, Fla. — Three retired professors from the University of South Florida College of Behavioral and Community Sciences are honoring their mothers by providing students with scholarships.
Roger Boothroyd and his wife, Mary Armstrong, are retired professors. Their mothers were unable to attend college. Instead, their moms raised a family during the Great Depression and World War II.
Boothroyd said his mother always believed education was essential.
"It was very important. I think the fact that she had applied and wanted to go and didn’t go, education was very important, and they had saved money to send us to college," said Boothroyd.
Boothroyd and Armstrong attended college. The couple later moved to Florida and taught at USF for more than two decades.
They met another professor, Catherine Batsche. The three professors said their mothers all became good friends. They would attend USF basketball games and dinner together.
"The three of them just loved to talk about their families and what was happening, reminiscing about things in their childhood. It was a very, very wonderful friendship, and so from that, Catherine approached Mary and I at one point and said we really should do something to honor our moms," said Boothroyd.
The trio started The Moms Project, a mentoring and scholarship program.
"One of the things we wanted to do was to encourage undergraduate students to take an interest in mental health and substance abuse research, so the incentive that we had was to be able to give them money to support the research," said Mary Armstrong.
The Moms Project has funded 44 student scholarships since being established in 2012.
"The wonderful thing about the Moms project is now the project is endowed and what that means is even after we’re no longer around, there will be funds there to support undergraduate students," said Armstrong.
Batsche said her mother had a lifelong dream of going to college. Her mother, Ellen Nizzi, graduated at the age of 90 with a bachelor's degree in creative writing. Ellen is now 102 years old.
Boothroyd and Armstrong said their mothers passed away in their 90s, but their legacy continues through the scholarship program.
"Anybody who would like to honor their mom for Mother’s Day or in memory of their mother...could contribute to the scholarship," said Boothroyd.
For more information on The Moms Project, visit here.
