02.08.06

Kylie Solino, above, is one of the Dunlap Scholarship recipients.

Five Dunlap Scholarships awarded for 2005-06

Five Erskine College students, including two 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.

Dunlap Scholar Kylie Solino, a freshman, is the daughter of Ms. Patricia Solino of Hickory, N.C., and attended Tri-City Christian School. She said she learned about the Dunlap Scholarship on the Erskine Web site.

"My mom is on disability due to lupus and a brainstem stroke, and therefore I needed a lot of financial help," she explained. "I wanted to go to Erskine and Erskine had been very generous in their scholarships awarded to me.

"Without the Dunlap Scholarship, however, I would not have been able to attend Erskine or any college," she said. "It made all the difference in the world in allowing me to receive an education."

In addition to participating in campus Bible studies and serving as an Erskine Ambassador, Solino is a member of the Anderson Cheer Company competition squad and is the founder and coach of the Catawba Cats Special Needs Cheerleading Squad.

"I hope to open my own competition cheerleading gym when I graduate," said Solino, who wants to major in sports management or business administration. "I plan on continuing with my special needs squad as well as all cheerleading levels in competition cheerleading."

Freshman Alex Lytton, son of Ms. Lisa Lytton of Gastonia, N.C., is also a newly selected Dunlap Scholar. He said he missed the deadline for the E.B. Kennedy Scholarship, but applied for other academic assistance, receiving the Towers Scholarship.

"As soon as I decided that I wanted to attend Erskine, I knew I would need plenty of scholarship help," he said. "I tried many Web sites that my school offered and kept up to date with the Erskine College scholarship Web page.

"I was determined to come, even if I knew it meant having to find more money once I got to Erskine," he said. "When I received the letter that I would be awarded the Dunlap, I knew I finally had all of the funds that I needed."

Lytton said he has not decided what his major will be. "But I have really enjoyed the good Christian companionship that I have found at Erskine," he said.

"I have made friends with some amazing people who seem to be ready to serve Christ wherever he calls them," he added. "I am still waiting for God to lead me in the direction he wants me to go."

The three returning Dunlap Scholarship recipients for 2005-06 are seniors Cami Jenkins, daughter of Ms. Evelyn Jenkins, High Point, N.C., and Caroline Williams, daughter of Graham Williams, Union; and sophomore Helena Korszun, daughter of Ms. Barbara Korszun, Charlotte, N.C.

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 had 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 of 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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