Panola breaks record:
College raises more than $770,000 for school year
Longview News
Journal
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
CARTHAGE — The Panola College Board of Trustees accepted a $264,000 donation Tuesday for scholarships, pushing total private fundraising for scholarships and general spending to more than $770,000 for the school year.
The donor, John Burton of Carthage, has established three scholarship endowments at Panola College since 2001: the Hayes-Burton/Oryx, the Lillie Antee Hayes Memorial and the John and Billie Jean Burton/Oryx scholarships. The latest donation will be placed in a general scholarship fund. That money is paid out by various academic departments, the president's office and the dean's office in increments of $250 to $1,000 per semester.
Panola College President Gregory Powell said Burton gave the gift in honor of his deceased wife, Billie Jean Burton, who was an advocate of higher education at Panola College.
This is the second time in the past 12 months that Panola College has received a large donation for scholarships.
In December, the college received a $291,851 donation to create the Ida Rose Deitert Moore scholarship fund.
Before Burton's donation, the college collected $510,000 this year for scholarships, to purchase equipment and pay for trips not covered in annual budgets.
"It's been a pretty good year for Panola College," said Van Patterson, the college's executive director of Institutional Advancement. "People in Carthage are proud of their college."
Patterson said fundraising efforts toward the college's $7 million M.P Baker Library expansion has caused a spike in total private donations. Since 2004, alumni and community business members have raised $542,678 for the library. College officials said the expansion project could be completed by April.
"Our college is so appreciative," Powell said.
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