Michele L. Durant Scholarship Fund

Michele L. Durant was a beloved mother, wife, aunt, sister, daughter, and friend who passed away from uterine cancer on August 14, 2019. She lived a full life as a black woman in the United States Air Force and was known as a “forever” student. She believed in the importance of education and financed immense debt in order to earn her degrees in both veterinary medicine and public health, among other certificates. Historically, black students borrow at higher rates than their white peers. Even moreso, black women often don’t have the resources they need to succeed. In particular, black women take longer to pay off their student loans. This is in part due to a greater wage gap for black women post-college accompanied by having fewer mentors in high-paying fields and positions that share their demographic. This scholarship aims to monetarily assist women of color in pursuing higher education to free up their time and resources and allow them to focus on obtaining leadership roles and effecting necessary change.