To Serve the Underserved

Susie ’80 and Jeff Weekley ’79 created two endowments for underrepresented students at Texas A&M University, including the first endowment for the Former Foster and Adopted Aggie Program administered by Student Assistance Services in the Division of Student Affairs. Their $25,000 gift will assist adopted and former foster care Aggies with expenses such as textbooks and extracurricular activity fees.

“College can be a challenging time for students in the foster system, but everyone longs to fit in,” Susie said. “We want to help these Aggies achieve the whole college experience by providing money for academics, football games, social organizations and more.”

Additionally, the Weekleys established a $50,000 endowed Foundation Excellence Award for underrepresented students pursuing business or STEM degrees to foster a diverse community within Texas A&M’s largest majors.

“We would love to see more minority students experience the uniqueness of being an Aggie,” Susie added. “There is no easy answer to fix racial bias, but education is a start. As we interact with people from different cultures, backgrounds and races, we learn that our commonalities are so much greater than our differences.”