The University of Arkansas at Little Rock Campus Bookstore has awarded $10,000 in student scholarships for the spring 2020 semester. A total of 20 students representing law, graduate, and undergraduate students from across UA Little Rock’s colleges have been awarded $500 each as part of the bookstore’s 2020 Book Grant Awards.

Award recipients include law students Sarah Fendley, Raegan Massey, Markita Watts, and Rachel Williams; graduate students Morgan Dlouhy, Mary Melissa Miller, and Andrei Trapizonian; and undergraduate students Jade Beshears, Alexandria Brown, Destiny Brown, Michael Davis, Megan Hall, Jordan Holyfield, Jordan Jackson, Sherlyn Leprozo, Taylor Lunsford, Joshua Merriweather, DeShawn Parks, Meagan Pennington, and Natasha Sullivan.

“It is an honor and privilege to assist the university with student retention and growth, while supporting the university’s mission to improve students’ lives,” Bookstore Manager Brenda Thomas said.

Improving student lives is exactly what the Book Grant Awards have done.

“The book grant has been a great blessing,” said Fendley, a law school student. “This is one of my most expensive semesters for books. The grant helped offset the cost of my semester and saved me from adding that much more to student loan debt.”

Graduate students echoed Fendley’s appreciation.

“I am honored to have been selected for the UA Little Rock 2020 Book Grant Award scholarship,” Dlouhy said. “This scholarship allows me to obtain the materials necessary to excel in my courses as I pursue a master’s degree in business administration.”

Miller, an art history graduate student, said being awarded the book scholarship has been very helpful for covering expenses at the onset of the semester.

“The scholarship has allowed me to purchase books needed for my classes and not have to worry about having the correct book on time,” Miller said. “Thank you so much for this award!”

Trapizonian, an international MBA student, said he is especially grateful for the award since international students have limited opportunity to work and earn money while pursuing a degree.

“This is my final semester in the MBA program, and I want to finish strong by staying focused on my studies,” Trapizonian said. “The Book Grant Award helped reduce my education expenses and has made a positive difference in my semester already.”

When reviewing student scholarship applications, the Bookstore Advisory Committee considered academic achievement, leadership, community service, and financial need. To be eligible, students needed a minimum 2.5 GPA and six completed credit hours if a graduate student or nine completed credit hours if an undergraduate student.

Parks, an accounting and professional sales major who also serves as a resident assistant, said he especially appreciated that his pursuit of good grades has been acknowledged through a scholarship that helps pay for expensive books.

“Being able to receive a book grant is an awesome blessing,” Parks said. “It’s great to see my hard work acknowledged in the form of this scholarship. Thanks UA Little Rock!”