February 2025

THOMSEN-BAKER-TELFER UPDATE FROM
A 2024 SCHOLARSHIP WINNER

Thomsen-Baker-Telfer Scholarship Fund is getting ready to begin another season of selecting scholarship recipients from HISD, Alief and Spring Branch school districts. In 2025, the Thomsen-Baker-Telfer Scholarship Fund amount for each scholarship will be $4,000. The online application will be live on February 1st. If you know of any young women graduating from one of these school districts and planning to major in a stem field in college, please encourage them to review the scholarship requirements at https://westharriscounty-tx.aauw.net/about/scholarships/2025-scholarship-application/ and submit an application starting February 1 at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TBT-application.

Below is a letter we received from Fathia Fakoya, one of the three 2024 Thomsen-Baker-Telfer Scholarship winners, on her first semester at Texas A&M University (TAMU). It is rewarding to see how well she is doing and involved in not just academic endeavors, but also community outreach. As we receive updates from other Thomsen-Baker-Telfer recipients we will publish them.

Good morning.
I hope you are doing well. I am writing to give an update on myself for the fall semester. I apologize for sending this late; I intended to provide up-to-date information on my proceedings, and I can only be sure of the facts now.
My first semester at Texas A&M University started amazingly. I immediately had great social connections, as I met like-minded people and applied for great organizations. I am now a committed member of the Minority Association of Pre-Health Students (MAPS), which is a top-pioneer organization for minorities who are looking to enter any healthcare field. I am also a member of the 12th Can- a student-run food pantry that makes food accessible to the students and faculty of TAMU who need it.
My academic performance started great as well. The classes were challenging with a much heavier workload than I was used to, so it took me a while to get used to the flow of things. At the end of the semester, I passed all my classes and obtained a 4.0 GPA.
I look forward to a few more things next semester: such as my trip with MAPS to a medical conference called AMEC for exposure and networking with healthcare professionals, and my research assistant position with a public health professor who deals with rural occupational healthcare.
The first semester has come to an end, and I feel grateful to have been given a chance to experience it fully without much worry about my financial situation. I will continue to uphold excellence through my endeavors.

Thank you so much,
Fathia Fakoya.

December 2024

Congratulations to the AAUW-West Harris County Branch!

The Thomsen-Baker-Telfer Scholarship Fund satisfied a goal set in August by a generous, anonymous member of collecting $10,000.00 contributed by at least half of the branch membership. If the branch met that goal by November 28, 2024, she would donate an additional $10,000.00. You met that goal a month early and the checks are still coming in. If you haven’t heard, so far, we have collected $12,025.00 from 87 members. After November 28, 2024, Thomsen-Baker-Telfer will announce the final figures. Your generosity and the generosity of our anonymous donor have given Thomsen-Baker-Telfer Scholarship Fund the ability to open an account with Fidelity Investments with the purpose of eventually endowing one or two of our annual scholarships.
Through the generosity of member donors over the past year, Thomsen-Baker-Telfer had almost $60,000 invested in CD’s. As these CD’s mature, the resulting funds are being deposited to the Fidelity Account. The donations provided by our membership during this drive and the $10,000 matching grant are also being deposited into that account. They will be allocated between a Money Market and a managed investment fund containing a mixture of stocks and bonds. Future donations will be invested in this account with sufficient cash kept in the Money Market to provide for the scholarships awarded that year. By the end of the first quarter of 2025, we should have invested $80,000.00 at Fidelity. $15,000 will be in the Money Market for the 2025 scholarships and $65,000 will be in the managed investment fund. We need to have at least $100,000 invested to generate the income to endow two $5,000 scholarships.
We can do it!
*The only fees associated with the Fidelity Account are the fund expense fees. There are no management fees associated with the account.

October 2024

First and foremost, thank you to all who have donated and are still donating to the Tomsen-Baker-Telfer Scholarship Fund. The matching grant has been met! Checks are still arriving. The matching grant, total dollars and number of members, will not be finally calculated until November 28, 2024. The following are answers to questions you might have.

Question 1: Why does the scholarship fund need a surplus of funds? 

1. The surplus funds will make it possible to keep the scholarship amount steady or increase in value. The Board of Labor Statistics released the inflation rate from September 2023 to September 2024 at 2.4%. We will need to periodically increase the scholarship amount to keep it at the current level. This year, the AAUW WHC board approved an increased value from $3,500 per student to $4,000. This reflects the generous donations received from our membership.
2. Historically, the scholarship amount has varied with the level of donations given by the membership. If there should be a lean year in donations, the scholarship fund will be able to retain the $4,000 per year scholarship level. This signals to high school counselors and STEM teachers that the scholarship is worthy of recommending to their students.

Question 2:  How are our donations being protected?

1. Over the last few years, a small amount of operating cash has been kept in the checking account. The rest has been in CDs. Currently, $69,662 is invested in business CD’s earning 4.4-4.8%. Each year, one CD has been scheduled to come due in late April or May in time to write the scholarship checks.
2. CD values have decreased dramatically this month. It is time to change our investment strategy. With that in mind, the Thomsen-Baker-Telfer Scholarship board began looking at investment institutions. The decision was made to deposit the funds into an investment account with Fidelity Investments. Two of the business CDs are due this month. The funds from those CDs will be deposited into this newly opened account.
3. Scholarship board members met with an investment counselor from Fidelity. The money will be invested with a portion going to long-term and short-term investments. We were advised that it will take approximately $80,000 to fund one scholarship. With that in mind, $12,000 will be retained in a CD to cover the 2025 scholarships. The remaining funds will be invested to meet the long-term funding needs of one scholarship.

The scholarship board welcomes questions and advice from our members. The board meets monthly by Zoom at 9:30 AM on the last Monday of the month. Please email thomsenbakertelferscholarship@gmail.com for the Zoom link if you would like to attend.

XXXX

Current News 

Sponsored by AAUW West Harris County Branch

Scholarship Purpose:  Encourage female high school seniors to pursue collegiate study in the STEM fields, i.e. science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  A one-time scholarship per recipient of $3,500. Three (3) scholarships will be awarded. One to a female student in each of these districts: Alief I.S.D., Houston I.S.D. and Spring Branch I.S.D.   The online scholarship application will go live on February 1^stthis year.  Check back on this webpage for a link to the application.  The application period will end on April 15^th at 11:59 p.m.

The committee will send e-mails to the College Readiness Counselors in Alief ISD, Houston ISD, and Spring Branch ISD.  Please share this webpage with your friends and female high school seniors.

Contribute to the Fund:  Each year the scholarships are funded from contributions by members, businesses, churches and others in the community.   The amount awarded is decided each year based on contributions.

AAUW members may donate in memory of loved ones,  to celebrate special events or just to support the girls.  Contributions are tax deductible under IRS Code 501(c)3. If you would like to contribute, write a check to the Thomsen-Baker-Telfer Scholarship Fund. Checks can be mailed to Carolyn Morris, 11159 Riverview Way, Houston, Texas  77042. If you prefer to give electronically, we accept Zelle. Enter the email address thomsenbakertelferscholarship@gmail.com.

This webpage was last modified: January 30, 2025