Wewers family bequest to aid struggling students
Frank and Helen Wewers of Lenexa have committed a $1 million bequest from their estate to establish a new scholarship fund at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the UMKC Foundation announced today.
The Frank J. and Helen L. Wewers Scholarship Fund will provide scholarship support for either undergraduate or graduate students at the Henry W. Bloch School of Management, UMKC’s nationally and globally ranked business school. The scholarship is designed specifically to support students “who have faced academic challenges, but have demonstrated an offsetting personal drive and commitment to education. Applicants with a grade point average of 2.5 to 3.0 will be considered” for the scholarship, the foundation announced.
Frank Wewers is a member of the Advisory Council to the Bloch School. He is the founder and former president of Manning Systems and the principal consultant at Fli-Tek Consulting LLC. The Wewers have been generous supporters of education and the arts in the greater Kansas City community for many years.
“History has no shortage of examples of people who struggled at times in the classroom, but who used their energy and drive to persevere, overcome challenges, and accomplish great things,” Frank Wewers said. “Those are exactly the kind of people that public higher education exists to support, and we are offering our support as well through this scholarship program. UMKC’s Bloch School is the right place for this effort because we know that Dean Teng-Kee Tan has established an institution there that respects the value of effort, commitment and personal drive to succeed.”
Helen Wewers devoted her career to public education, teaching more than 30 years in the Shawnee Mission School District.
“It is our responsibility to make sure that the people who have the grades, the desire and the will, but not the money, can get the best education possible,” Helen Wewers said. “We can’t afford to sacrifice the contributions that great minds could make to our community.”
Both Dean Tan and UMKC Chancellor Leo Morton expressed gratitude to the Wewers for their gift.
“Frank and Helen Wewers have been good friends and strong supporters of the Bloch School for a long time. I am personally honored and touched by their generosity and their recognition of our commitment to help students with great potential,” Tan said.
“The special thing about Frank and Helen Wewers is the deep understanding they have of the meaning and mission of a public university, something this gift clearly demonstrates,” Morton said.
Selection of scholarship award recipients, and the amount of each award, will be at the discretion of the Dean of the School of Management.