Photo: Mallory Chain; Dr. Pam Williford, Dean of Irvin School of Education; Erin Gabaree

Hardin-Simmons students last night were awarded scholarships totaling $87,350 from the Irvin School of Education.

About 180 parents, students, professors, and scholarship donors attended the award ceremony. Students in the Irvin School of education are planning on becoming teachers or majoring in counseling, psychology, or degrees using physical education.

School of Education Dean, Dr. Pam Williford, told the recipients that some of the donors of the scholarships were those who were on the receiving end of a scholarship when they were attending school at Hardin-Simmons.

Williford, who has set up an endowed scholarship herself in honor of her mother, said that she and her husband Dr. Don Williford had money extracted from their pay checks each month until there was enough for a $10,000 endowed scholarship. "As a donor, it is a sheer joy to know that my mother will be memorialized each April long after Don and I are gone."

In all 58 students will split the 87-thousand plus dollars handed out. Also, Mallory Chain was named the Outstanding Student Teacher of the Year, receiving a $2000 scholarship and Erin Gabaree of Brownwood was named as Outstanding Student by the Education Deans of Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas.