Submitted by Saint Martin’s University
LACEY, WASHINGTON — Saint Martin’s University announces the 2012 recipient of the Linda Fletcher Memorial Scholarship. Martha Mary Matthias, a Saint Martin’s junior, will receive $2,800. Matthias, of Massachusetts by way of the U.S. Virgin Islands, is studying psychology at Saint Martin’s Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) extended learning campuses.
The scholarship is named after Linda Fletcher, a beloved and longtime employee at Saint Martin’s University. Fletcher passed away April 11, 2001 after a two-year battle with cancer. She was known for her devotion to the field of education and in-depth faith in her students. She worked for the University for seven years, starting as the director of the Fort Lewis extension campus and later becoming the director of military programs for both McChord and Fort Lewis, now recognized as the extended learning division at JBLM.
Saint Martin’s University first awarded the scholarship in the 2002-2003 academic year. There have been 12 recipients since its inception. The scholarship is awarded to undergraduate students making progress toward a baccalaureate degree at Saint Martin’s University’s extended learning campuses. Extended learning division faculty and staff make recommendations and/or students directly apply for the scholarship and a committee selects the recipient in accordance with Linda’s wishes. The selection committee hails Matthias as “one of the strongest candidates seen to date for this award” as she is enthusiastic, academically focused and always ready to help her classmates in any way she can.
The scholarship recipient ultimately exhibits the characteristics Fletcher valued and she herself exhibited daily in making a difference in the lives of others. “It was Linda’s dream to acknowledge and champion students who exhibited the special characteristics that are a major part of Saint Martin’s core themes as well as helping make University extended learning program students a special community of learners,” says Cruz Arroyo, director of extended learning campuses.
For more information about the Linda Fletcher Memorial Scholarship or programs of study at Saint Martin’s JBLM extended learning campuses, contact Arroyo at carroyo@stmartin.edu.
Saint Martin’s University is an independent four-year, coeducational university located on a 380-acre wooded campus in Lacey, Washington. Established in 1895 by the Catholic Order of Saint Benedict, the University is one of 14 Benedictine colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, and the only one west of the Rocky Mountains. Saint Martin’s University prepares students for successful lives through its 23 majors and seven graduate programs spanning the liberal arts, business, education, nursing and engineering. Saint Martin’s welcomes more than 1,100 undergraduate students and 375 graduate students from many ethnic and religious backgrounds to its main campus, and 300 more undergraduate students to its extension campuses located at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Centralia College. Visit the Saint Martin’s University website at www.stmartin.edu.
