A moment of thanks: Scholarship Luncheon celebrates students and donors

A student with curly hair, wearing a white dress shirt and patterned tie with a UTC name badge, sits at a banquet table during a scholarship luncheon, smiling while listening to a speaker. Other attendees are seated at round tables in the background, with floral centerpieces and table numbers visible.

Scholarship recipients and donors gathered at UTC’s annual Scholarship Luncheon. Photo by Angela Foster.

Siya Patel didn’t think she would graduate from college debt free.

Now a senior nursing major at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, she said scholarships will make that outcome a reality.

“I didn’t think that was possible,” Patel said. “UTC has made it possible.”

Patel was one of several student panelists at UTC’s annual Scholarship Luncheon, held on Wednesday, April 8, in the University Center Tennessee Room during I Love UTC Week. The event, hosted by the Division of Advancement, brings together scholarship recipients and their donors, offering a rare opportunity to share stories face-to-face.

During the panel, students shared that scholarships reshaped their college experience.

Patel discussed the everyday pressures students navigate.

“We all know that we have courses. I have clinicals, we have professional and social challenges that we have to go through,” she said. “Receiving scholarships just helps us so much. It provides us a little more comfort, and we don’t have to worry about the stress of being financially able to just attend classes.”

Izzy McPherson, a junior psychology major and point guard on the Mocs women’s basketball team, said the support makes it possible to fully commit to both academics and athletics.

“Basketball is basically a year-round sport. I don’t know what I would do if I had to pay to go to college and also play basketball here,” McPherson said to the crowd. “So, I just want to say ‘thank you’ to everybody from the bottom of my heart. You have all my love and gratitude.”

James Kalla, a senior accounting major in the Gary W. Rollins College of Business, said his scholarship allowed him to attend a trip to Japan with his fellow Rollins Scholars. He added that the scholarship experience speaks to something larger at UTC.

“If you look beyond this school, the amount of debt that people are taking on, it is increasing and it is a lot,” Kalla noted. “The fact that we’re able to have more than half of the students graduate debt-free is a massive accomplishment.”

Asha Lee, a junior applied leadership major and a member of the UTC Honors College’s Innovations in Honors program, said scholarships allowed her to stay involved on campus.

As a transfer student from Chattanooga State Community College, Lee did not qualify for the HOPE Scholarship.

“But I was still able to receive a ton of scholarships,” Lee said. “To be able to be debt free is amazing to me.”

Those opportunities, she added, made it possible to take on leadership roles and stay engaged.

“Scholarships have changed my life,” Lee said.

Carolina Shank, a sophomore double major in mechanical engineering and criminal justice, said scholarships allowed her to step back from constant work and invest more fully in her college experience.

“I have worked part-time jobs since I was 15. I currently have three or four jobs technically,” Shank said. “Working and balancing school with that is really difficult.

“They’ve allowed me not to work as much so that I can go and actually hang out with my friends; I can join more clubs and I can attend national conferences all over the country. It’s really just kind of changed my life. It’s changed who I am and it’s changed what I think is possible.”

Shank, Lee, Kalla and Patel are Chattanooga natives. McPherson hails from Pleasant View, Tennessee.

A panel of six scholarship recipients sits on stage during the UTC Scholarship Luncheon, with one student speaking into a microphone while others listen. A large screen behind them reads “Scholarship Recipient Panel” and lists the panelists’ names. Audience members are seated at round tables in the foreground.

The scholarship recipient panel included moderator and Interim Vice Chancellor of Advancement Andrew Sheehy (left) and students Carolina Shank, Siya Patel, Izzy McPherson, Asha Lee and James Kalla.

The value of those experiences is what Interim Vice Chancellor for Advancement Andrew Sheehy described as the purpose of the event.

“Moments like this are a reminder of what philanthropy makes possible,” Sheehy said. “It creates opportunities … and most importantly changes lives.”

Throughout the room, students sat with the individuals and families whose support helped make their education possible.

For some donors, that support is rooted in their own experiences.

Jack Marcellis, a retired City of Chattanooga public works administrator, said he worked his way through school before eventually receiving a fellowship for graduate study.

“I decided I’m going to make sure a few people behind me, younger than me, get that opportunity,” Marcellis said.

He and his late wife—a former UTC employee—established a civil engineering scholarship at UTC more than two decades ago.

“I’ve just made sure that higher education is available in my small way to a few other people,” he said.

Movita Steiner, a long-time donor and supporter of women’s athletics, said the motivation is simple.

“I just want to see them get an education,” Steiner said. “That was always very important to me and my late husband … I feel blessed that I can do it.”

A donor perspective was also shared through a video featuring Ken Harpe, a 1971 graduate of the University of Chattanooga and namesake of the Ken and Cary Harpe Scholarship.

In the video, Harpe reflected on how his time at the University shaped his life, including meeting his late wife, Cary, outside an English class under an oak tree.

“College doesn’t so much change your life as it helps you discover who you are, what your talents are,” Harpe said in the video. “And we want that opportunity for other people.”

Chancellor Lori Bruce addressed the crowd, sharing the impact scholarships had on her life.

She grew up in a small farming community in Lincoln County, Tennessee, where higher education wasn’t always a direct path. Over time, she watched that change within her own family and saw how access to education could reshape what was possible.

Many of the students at UTC, she said, are navigating similar challenges as they work toward their degrees.

“When we invest in students, we’re not just investing in them as individuals,” Bruce said. “We’re investing in their families, their future families. We’re making generational investments and that really, really matters.”