Terri Wingo Lives Up to
Great Expectations

Like schoolchildren visiting a hallowed battlefield, Win-go finds herself in the spaces once inhabited by another, someone whose life has prepared the way for her today.

People often tramp unthinkingly upon these places, but Wingo is especially cognizant of the path she travels, because it is Beverley's generosity that has brought her to JMU. "If it weren't for this award, I would have never come to JMU, and now I think that this is the best university for me," she says.

Beverley died in 1995 never knowing Wingo, who this year received a tuition scholarship funded through a $832,162 gift from the estate of Beverley's husband. Larry, who died in July, was a disaster coordinator for the American Red Cross. His gift will fund up to four simultaneous and renewable tuition scholarships, known as the Beverley Anne Batschelet and Charles E. Thomas Memorial Scholarships, in memory of his wife and her father. The scholarships will be awarded annually to an incoming freshman from the Colonial Beach [Va.] Baptist Church.

The criteria are financial need, scholastic achievement, character and academic potential. And once the endowment principal reaches $750,000, over and above its ability to fund the tuition scholarships, JMU will award the Bev and Larry Batschelet Chair of School Administration in the College of Education.

Through Beverley's career as assistant to the executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, she and her husband maintained their ongoing interest in educational issues.

And it is educating young people that has drawn Beverley Batschelet and Terri Wingo together across time. Wingo is studying interdisciplinary liberal studies so she can become an early elementary school teacher. She is enrolled in the five-year Master of Arts in Teaching program, from which she will graduate in 2006 with a bachelor's and a master's degree.

"I wanted to be a teacher since I was a junior in high school," Wingo says. "I tutored two third-grade girls. One was behind in math, and I found out that I could go slowly with her. She just got better and better every time. I made up little games for her, and
she responded."

Criticism of the teaching profession and the prospect of a low salary don't faze Wingo. "It's the only thing I can see myself doing," she says. "I don't really care about the money. It will be rewarding."

It's that kind of earnestness that the Batschelets wanted to reward. Wingo admits to a curious feeling that comes from not knowing her benefactors. A tangible connection to Bev Batschelet would be more comfortable. Terri Wingo has yet to realize she's it.