San Marcos Rattler Receives St. David’s Neal Kocurek Scholarship

Nicholas Vanecek | Reporter

San Marcos Rattler, Megan Crawford, was awarded the St. David’s Neal Kocurek Scholarship to pursue a medical degree here in Central Texas. 

Her acceptance of the award is only the beginning of an extraordinary story of how she got there. 

Crawford graduated from San Marcos High School in 2020 and is already enrolled in nursing school at Tarleton State University. 

When Crawford was just a sophomore in high school, her mother passed away. 

With her father no longer in the picture, she said, “I was left with nobody. I didn’t know who I was going to stay with. So, I asked my best friend if they would be willing to open up their house to me and let me stay for the last two years of high school. And, her mom was so gracious and opened up her doors and let me in. Not only into her home but also her family.” 

Crawford said her friend’s mother is at the top of her list when it comes to people she would like to thank.? She now considers her friend and her friend’s parents as her own sister and parents now.

Like some high school students, she struggled with knowing whether or not she should apply for the scholarship. 

When she first heard about the scholarship, it was her senior year and her EMT instructor brought it up to the class. 

Crawford had a friend of hers that was a recipient of the scholarship in 2019. She reached out to her for advice about the scholarship.   

She said she was excited and relieved when she found out that she was chosen for the scholarship.

“I was sitting in the kitchen whenever my phone went off, and I was thinking ‘-Oh, I really don’t want to open this email right now,” Crawford said. “This could either go really good or really bad.’ And I knew in the back of my head that if I received that scholarship I wouldn’t be underneath the burden of a financial situation with college. That scholarship would leave me debt-free.”

Edward Burger is the CEO of the St. David’s Neal Kocurek Scholarship Foundation. 

Burger was once president of Southwestern University in Georgetown. As well as a professor for mathematics.

He has spent almost forty years in education before becoming the CEO of the St. David’s foundation.?

“This program is amazing because it’s both today and tomorrow. We’re helping these amazing students today,” Burger said, “So that they can further their education and become even better versions of themselves. And, we’re also investing into the future because we certainly know that there is going to be a need for what they contribute to wellness and health into the future. It’s just a part of the foundation‘s DNA really.”

There is no hiding from COVID-19 nowadays. So, Burger talked a bit about how important it was that they were giving out these scholarships amidst a global pandemic. 

“I think that they are truly essential, for a variety of reasons. One of which, just at a global level we realize how fragile our health really is, and how we as a community need to keep everyone healthy.”

Burger continued to express the importance of health equity in the community.

“So, now more than ever we do need individuals who will step up and be willing to serve, especially those individuals who tend to be underserved to make sure that everyone is well. And this pandemic I think is a powerful example that it’s not just about that I stay healthy, but it’s important to me that everyone around me stays healthy. So, that’s why thinking about health equity issues is so essential because we really need to have a community of health.”?

“Giving all of these well-deserving graduates a head start on their goals to higher education” is the goal for the St. David’s Foundation. 

There is also no question that things have changed on how students attend school now. Some are being homeschooled. Some are meeting face-to-face with a multitude of restrictions.

And then some are completely online, remote classes. Mr. Burger had an interesting take on how students should react to schooling in the wake of COVID-19.

“This is a very challenging time for all students. Not just those starting their undergraduate career, but even if you are continuing your undergraduate career, if you’re a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th-year student. But, also for high school students, middle school students, and even elementary school students this is really a difficult time. And, for first-year students going to college I would say that it’s always a difficult time. So, there’s no one that has ever had kind of an easy, perfect you know the first year. There’s that transition. But, I just hope that students will (1) Acknowledge the fact that this is an unusual time, and?(2) Give themselves the space that they need to kind of puzzle through that and to kind of keep themselves well in terms of their own self well-being and self-health. And finally, this is also an opportunity. COVID is going to change humanity. That’s just a fact. I can’t tell you exactly how it will change humanity, but it will.”

 Burger is just one of the many people working for St. David’s that aims to change the lives of the youth.

Crawford plans on finishing her nursing program at Tarleton and getting her pre-med out of the way before she applies to medical school after she graduates.

We wish you nothing but the best, Megan!

For more information on St. David’s Neal Kocurek Scholarship you can visit the website here.