Fundraiser held in support of Meagan Elizabeth Smith scholarship

In honor of Western student Meagan Elizabeth Smith, the Liberal Studies Department at Western Washington University recently created the Meagan Elizabeth Smith Memorial Scholarship for Excellence in Humanities.

Smith, a Liberal Studies major at Western, was the victim of a homicide while she was house-sitting for friends in Renton in 2015.

Liberal Studies chair Kimberly Lynn discussed the idea of the memorial scholarship with the department at the first faculty meeting of the year in September. The department came together with the Liberal Studies Leadership Team and Smith's parents to create the scholarship.

“She had a remarkable warmth, grace and generosity in her bearing and the way she was with others,” Lynn said.

The Meagan Elizabeth Smith Memorial Scholarship for Excellence in Humanities is the first named scholarship in the department’s 40-plus-year history.

“The goal has been in the wake of the heartbreaking tragedy of losing Meagan, to find a positive way to honor the person she was and specifically her legacy as an excellent, talented student,” Lynn said.

Meagan was an outstanding student, Lynn said. She was scheduled to graduate with departmental honors in December 2015 with a Humanities major, a concentration in Religion and Culture and a minor in German. She was a member of the first Liberal Studies Leadership Team, an athlete, a musician and a beloved individual in the community.

On Thursday, April 7, the department and leadership team held a fundraising event at Aslan Brewery.

Aslan donated 10-percent of its proceeds from drink sales between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. that night, a total of $230.

The fundraising event was a success, said Riley Jessett, a Liberal Studies major. It was a good experience and people really responded to Meagan and her story, he said, adding that the group raised $1,200 through donations and from selling T-shirts.

“Megan actually designed the T-shirts last spring, so we featured her design in the shirts we sold,” he said.

The T-shirts are still for sale through the Liberal Studies Leadership Team.

The scholarship was created to commemorate Meagan through honoring future students who show excellence in his or her studies and passion for humanities, Lynn said.

“The scholarship will be constant and it will preserve her name,” Jessett said. “Her name will still be there when everyone else has moved on and isn’t there anymore.”

Declared majors in the Liberal Studies Department and Humanities majors with either the Religion and Culture or the History of Culture concentration are eligible to apply for the scholarship. The 2016 application deadline has past.

A scholarship of $1,000 will be awarded in the 2016-2017 academic year.

Ways to give:

• Donations for the scholarship are accepted online at http://alumni.wwu.edu/inmemoryofmeagan.
• Checks are accepted by mail at
  • WWU Foundation 516 High Street, MS 9034 Bellingham, WA 98225-9034
  • *Please write Meagan E. Smith Scholarship on the memo line of your check.
• Or by telephone: (360) 650-3027