Scholarship answer leads to another question
Published 8:17 am Wednesday, April 27, 2016
The Informer on Sunday answered a question about the one-year scholarships to Tulane University that Louisiana lawmakers hand out. The scholarships, each worth over $45,000, are offered by the school in exchange for tax breaks from the state — a deal that dates from 1884.
The agreement initially limited lawmakers to nominating students from their own districts, but it has since changed to allow them to nominate students who live outside their districts.
For example, The Informer noted, Tulane’s list of recipients shows that Sen. Gregory Tarver, D-Shreveport, nominated a Lake Charles student for a scholarship for this school year and that Rep. A.B. Franklin, D-Lake Charles, nominated a Baton Rouge student. That prompted another reader to ask a question.
“Concerning the Legislative Scholarships,” the reader asked, “who was the student that Greg Tarver from Shreveport nominated, and who was the student that Rep. A.B. Franklin from Lake Charles nominated?”
According to Tulane’s 2015-2016 recipient list, Tarver nominated Austin Rose of Lake Charles, and Franklin nominated Richard Ieyoub of Baton Rouge.
Other area legislators, two of whom have since left office, and the students they nominated:
Rep. Frank Howard, R-Many — Tucker Baker of Alexandria.
Rep. Jame Armes, D-Leesville — Sheldon Hitchens of DeRidder.
Rep. Dorothy Sue Hill, D-Dry Creek — Wyatt Nesom of Elizabeth.
Rep. Mike Danahay, D-Sulphur — Brandon Cooper of Sulphur.
Former Rep. Brett Geymann, R-Moss Bluff — Natasha Navejar of Westlake.
Former House Speaker Chuck Kleckley, R-Lake Charles — Tatiana Derouen of Lake Charles.
Rep. John Guinn, R-Jennings — Mackenzi Thibodeaux of Jennings.
Rep. Bob Hensgens, R-Abbeville — Blair Trahan of Hackberry.
Sen. Dan Morrish, R-Jennings — Jeffrey Joseph of Lake Charles.
Sen. Ronnie Johns, R-Sulphur — Jennifer Jones of Lake Charles.
Sen. Eric LaFleur, D-Ville Platte — Michael Mahfouz of Marksville.
Sen. John Smith, R-Leesville — Logan Gold of Shreveport.
The 2014-2015 recipients nominated by the above, according to the list:
Howard — Tucker Baker of Alexandria.
Armes — Sheldon Hitchens of DeRidder.
Hill — Wyatt Nesom of Elizabeth.
Danahay — Joseph Hagmann of Baton Rouge.
Franklin — Jaypreet Chadha of DeQuincy.
Geymann — Natasha Navejar of Westlake.
Kleckley — Tatiana Derouen of Lake Charles.
Guinn — Callie Clement of Iowa, La.
Hensgens — Blair Trahan of Hackberry.
Morrish — Jeffrey Joseph of Lake Charles.
Johns — Jennifer Jones of Lake Charles.
LaFleur — Michael Mahfouz of Marksville.
Smith — Kathleen Granger of San Pedro, Calif. (a Leesville High School graduate).
As The Informer noted Sunday, to qualify for a Legislative Scholarship, students must be permanent residents of the state; must be graduates of a Louisiana high school; and must be admitted as a full-time undergraduate — meeting test score and class ranking requirements — or have a 2.30 cumulative Tulane grade-point average.
For more information on the Legislative Scholarship program, contact Marcia Taylor with Tulane’s Office of Government and Community Relations at 504-988-3393 or govtaff2015@tulane.edu.
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Online: https://tulane.edu/government_affairs.
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The Informer answers questions from readers each Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. It is researched and written by Andrew Perzo, an American Press staff writer. To ask a question, call 494-4098 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com.