01.11.05

Helena Claire Korszun

Six Erskine students receive Dunlap Scholarships

Six Erskine College students, including one newly selected freshman, have been awarded Dunlap Scholarships this year. The Dunlap Scholarships continue the ministry of the William H. Dunlap Orphanage, which served young people from 1905-78.

Freshman Helena Claire Korszun, daughter of Barbara Korszun, is a psychology major and minors in vocal music. In her first academic year as a Dunlap Scholarship recipient, Korszun is already active as a member of the yearbook committee and the vocal ensemble "Immix."

The Dunlap award has special significance for Korszun and her family.

"My mom went to Dunlap Orphanage when she was a little girl, and then the orphanage closed down," Korszun said. "So when she heard about the Dunlap Scholarship being offered for Erskine students with only one parent, she got really excited since she grew up in the orphanage."

Korszun may be the only Dunlap Scholarship recipient with a two-generation connection to the Dunlap ministry.

"I guess it's pretty interesting that not only was my mom able to benefit from Dunlap, but, through the death of my father, I've been able to benefit from it as well," she said.

The five returning Dunlap Scholarship recipients for 2004-05 are juniors Ashley Kendal Cirelli of Pendleton, Camilla Lynn Jenkins of High Point, N.C., and Ava Caroline Williams of Union; and seniors Jarvis Donnell Lamb of Columbia and Curtis James Rash of Anderson.

Williams, who serves as vice president of the Student Government Association, said, "What this scholarship has meant to me is that it has provided me the opportunity to be at Erskine and to experience things that might not be available at another school."

The institution that was to become the William H. Dunlap Orphanage was opened on Thanksgiving Day in 1897 and was established by the Rev. and Mrs. J.P. Knox of Hickory Grove. Knox was an Associate Reformed Presbyterian minister who made a promise in 1895 when his wife was undergoing surgery that he would "do some special work for God."

The orphanage at Hickory Grove had only 2.5 acres of land. When it became known that the orphanage needed farmland to provide employment for the boys and girls as well as funds for the home, members of the Dunlap family of Tipton County, Tenn., came forward, deeding 245 acres of land to the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church and later donating 91 acres of adjoining property.

In 1905 the children from the orphanage in Hickory Grove moved to the William H. Dunlap Orphanage. The Dunlap Home, as it was known, continued to minister to orphans and needy children until it closed in 1978.

Each scholarship in the William H. Dunlap Scholarship program is in the amount of up to $4,000 as determined by the Scholarship and Financial Aid Committee. Renewal in succeeding years requires satisfactory academic progress toward a degree and maintaining the financial qualifications originally associated with the award.

"It is the prayerful hope that if you are a recipient (of a Dunlap Scholarship), you, too, will make a commitment 'to do some special work for God' and that as opportunity arises in the future, you will allow your resources to assist others in their life pilgrimage," advises the board of trustees of the William H. Dunlap Orphanage Inc., in its literature explaining the Dunlap Scholarship Program.

Applicants for the Dunlap Scholarship must submit the Dunlap Scholarship application, the application for admission to Erskine College and the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by March 1.

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