This year's honorees at the McDonald County Schools Foundation's sixth annual Heart of Education Banquet have been supporters of the foundation since they first knew it existed.
Dr. Amy Oxner McGaha and Scott McGaha have funded the McGaha Community Service Scholarship, a four-year renewable scholarship that is administered by the foundation.
Four graduates each academic year who are in pursuit of a public service career are selected for the scholarship. In addition to high academic achievement, the McGaha scholarship requires 20 hours of volunteer service each year to be renewed.
McGaha said she received scholarships in her four years at the University of Missouri and throughout medical school that made it possible to follow her dreams.
"I did not get through school without the support and scholarships," McGaha said. "I got scholarships from the state and some abstract institutional scholarships, but it was really important to me to get the community scholarships. I remember I got the Republican Club scholarship my senior year and then once when I went into medical school I received a scholarship to support my medical school training from Floyd A. Barnett, who was a physician from Rocky Comfort. Just the idea that an individual person had invested in me made a huge impression on me."
McGaha said she thought it would be later on in life before she would be able to provide help to others like she received upon graduation from high school but instead connected with the foundation to speed the process along.
"I kept saying as soon as I have an actual paycheck, I want to establish a scholarship," McGaha said. "This is where I owe such a debt of gratitude to the foundation. It's because I thought I would have to be a millionaire someday to be able to do this because I looked into what it would take to establish a foundation. I could have established an endowment, but it would have been a very unimpressive scholarship. It seemed like it would be something I would do with my estate planning after I die. So when I found out about the McDonald County foundation, I was so happy because that gave me the ability to start funding right away."
The scholarships provided by the McGahas are so important to her and Scott that they made sure to carry on in the face of some personal trials and tribulations.
Amy said she graduated from McDonald County High School in 1992. She moved to McDonald County in 1987 from Texas and went two years to junior high school in Pineville. She said she met Scott in high school and they began dating while she was in college.
"We got married in 1995," Amy said. "We got divorced last year. The scholarships were one of the things that were really important to us, both being graduates of McDonald County High School, so one of the first things we talked about when we were divorcing was that we were committed to continuing the scholarships together."
McGaha said her time at McDonald County High School was highlighted by some great teachers who not only helped her academically but inspired her to achieve her goals.
"I am going to be really hesitant to say who my favorite teachers were because I will leave someone out," McGaha said. "I had so many good teachers. Mr. Roe (speech and debate) was one of my favorites. In my work, I have to give a lot of public speeches and I always think about him and I always have things he taught me in my head.
"I loved Mr. Francisco's trigonometry and advanced algebra. Again, when I was taking advanced math at the university, I very much appreciated his teaching.
"Mrs. Garrison, Mrs. Secrest and Mrs. Whittenburg (English) taught me to be a much more effective writer. I remember Mrs. Secrest saying, 'Some of you people don't want to become writers; you want to become bankers or doctors, but you are going to have to be able to write if you want people to take you seriously.'
"My science teachers -- Mrs. Woolard was just amazing. Mrs. Rakes was my Bio I teacher and she was such a patient teacher -- Mr. Knutson in chemistry and physics. So yeah, they were fantastic teachers."
McGaha said she was truly surprised and overwhelmed when she was notified that she was this year's honoree.
"I asked to check the address," McGaha quipped. "I actually got notified because Vivian Patterson -- my ex-mother-in-law -- was a patient of Dr. Pendergrass and she told her. So she called me and asked why I didn't tell her. I said, 'why didn't I know.' I am so thrilled and grateful to be recognized by this because it gives me the chance to reflect back to the foundation and how important the foundation is."
Currently, Dr. McGaha is the chairwoman of the Department of Family Medicine at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb.
The banquet honoring the McGahas will be held on Saturday, March 23, at McDonald County High School. The Student Showcase will open at 5:30 p.m. with appetizers served by students in the ProStart program at MCHS. Dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m. by Timbered-In Catering.
For information on purchasing tickets, contact Alice Snodgrass at [email protected] or call Gary Wasson at 417-223-4896.
Community on 03/21/2019