WT announces new scholarship for Pampa and White Deer students
PAMPA — West Texas A&M University announced Thursday at a news conference at the Pampa High School field house that a new scholarship had been created for Pampa and White Deer students.
Bill Cofer, a retired Pampa businessman, gave a $1.5 million endowment in honor of his late wife, Carol, who passed in August of 2022. This endowment will create a scholarship that will be given to a student from White Deer and Pampa high schools in subsequent years, with each school rotating for scholarship eligibility. Carol Cofer was a graduate of White Deer High School.
Bill Cofer graduated from White Deer High School in 1951, and Carol Cofer graduated in 1955. He taught in Stinnett before being drafted into the U.S. Navy. After they married, Bill Cofer began working for Cabot in Louisiana; Kermit; and Beaver, Oklahoma. They settled in Pampa, where Bill Cofer retired from Cabot in 1988.
Making the announcement about the gift was WT President Walter Wendler, who spoke about the commitment of his university to serve the Texas Panhandle and the importance of people like Cofer in making this happen with their endowments.
“I hope that every student present this morning will look upon Mr. Cofer’s generosity in establishing this scholarship for you as an example and inspiration for what you can do with your life and for others,” Wendler said. "Mr. Cofer, your generous gift supports what we have said is most important in this campaign — people. Your gift helps WT make more real, more tangible for Pampa and White Deer students.”
The Donna Carol Germany Cofer Endowed Scholarship will give selected students a minimum of $10,000 per academic year to attend WT in any degree program selected. He and his wife have previously set up a scholarship to attend the University of North Texas, where Cofer graduated from, but Bill Cofer said he wanted to help local students attend a university in the Panhandle region to fulfill his wife’s wishes.
“I have a scholarship at the University of North Texas for Pampa High School graduates, but Carol wanted us to set up something closer to home,” Cofer said. “We had talked about this well before she got sick, and she really wanted us to do something for students that wanted to stay close to home. This is about her; I wanted to do something so that she would be remembered for a long time.”
He said that most colleges that he had talked about setting up an endowment for wanted to do it as a freshman-only scholarship, but he was determined to have it pay for a full four years of education at a college and WT was amenable to making it happen. Cofer said that by taking care of all four years, a chosen student will have the means to concentrate on their studies rather than worrying about how to pay for it.
Asked why he chose WT, Cofer said that this was the premier university in the area that was a four-year school and gave the students a chance to stay close to home and come back and help their communities.
"I see an investment in our kids. When I was in school, money was hard to come by for school, and school was much less expensive," Cofer said. “This gives the kids a chance to go to school without getting into debt when they finish. We really wanted to help local kids. I wish Carol were still here to see this happen.”
Cofer said that if his wife were here today, she would have seen this as an important investment in kids.
“We did not have any children, so this is our way of giving to kids,” Cofer said.
Riley Covle, a senior at Pampa High School who was attending the announcement, spoke about the great opportunity this would give the selected students from this school. Covle plans to attend WT to study engineering after graduation and plans to be among those competing for the initial scholarship.
“This is a great opportunity; I will be the first person in my family to go to college,” Covle said. “A scholarship like this would really take a lot of the financial pressures off me to go to college and allow me to focus on my education.”
Tyce Whiteley, a senior at Pampa High School who is interested in applying for the new scholarship to pursue a business degree and return to the Pampa area, spoke about the importance of these types of endowments to his rural community.
“This means so much with so many people needing the money for college, and the cost is so prohibitive for those aspiring students,” Whiteley said. “I would love to be able to give back to my community the way this man has; this means so much to those that it will help.”
White Deer Independent School District Superintendent Duane Limbaugh said the gift will have a long-reaching impact. in the community.
“Through this gift, we are building stronger and healthier communities by keeping students in this region,” Limbaugh said in prepared remarks. “WT is critical to developing talent here in the Panhandle and keeping our youth connected to their home.”
Clay Jones, the principal of Pampa High School, spoke about what it means to his area and school for these types of opportunities to further their education.
“We are seeing a big resurgence of people that are seeing the importance of education and its impact of the community around us,” Jones said. “The burden many of our students carry to get an education is tremendous. It is super exciting that we can partner with people like Bill (Cofer), who are really helping set up opportunities for our kids.”
Jones said this endowment is special because it does not force a student to enter a particular specialty that would limit interest. He said a committee would be set up to choose the recipient based on factors such as needs, achievement and the ability to succeed at the next level of education.
“I think what is important is that we give kids an exposure to an education that shows what the world has to offer and choose if they want to come back and do the work in our community,” Jones said. "It is really an exciting time for our communities."
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: WT announces new scholarship for Pampa and White Deer students
