Joyce Ferguson and Carol Ferguson Colcord Maryland Promise Scholarship

There were a lot of remarkable women in my family – an aunt, one of the first women to study at MIT, earned a chemistry degree in only three years; another aunt, admitted to Tufts as an engineering student because they thought she was male, insisted on being allowed to matriculate even when the university tried to revoke her admission and her scholarship.  I had a grandmother who started a business well into her 50’s, and another grandmother who taught English, French, and Latin (as well as sponsoring the debate club and the drama club) while raising a family, maintaining a household, and nursing a succession of aging relatives.

I chose to establish this scholarship in honor of my mother, Carol Ferguson Colcord, and her sister, Joyce Ferguson.  My mother and her sister were identical twins, so identical that I’m not sure who’s who in photos of them as girls and young women.  

My mother got married very young and had children right away.  My dad’s Air Force career moved our family all over the US and Europe, so my mother had her hands full trying to manage family logistics in a new location nearly every year.  When my father retired after 20 years in the service, my mother finally had the opportunity to develop her own talents and she set out to become an accomplished dog breeder and trainer.

In the meantime, my aunt had finished her education and joined the foreign service.  She traveled extensively to places that would still be considered “off the beaten track” 60 years later, worked in 12 foreign capitals on four continents, never married, and lived an adventuresome life she could never tell us much about.

My intention with the Joyce Ferguson and Carol Ferguson Colcord Scholarship is to help scholars, long into the future, get the education that will allow you to nurture your own individuality, chart your own course, and live a life of adventure and contribution.  And I hope someday that you are also able to pay it forward!