Elite Red Hatters award stipend to previous Copperas Cove scholarship recipient

By BRITTANY FHOLER

Cove Leader-Press

The Elite Red Hatters of Copperas Cove gave their first stipend check to a previous scholarship recipient earlier this month.

The Elite Red Hatters are the Copperas Cove chapter of the Red Hat Society, which is an international social organization that was founded in 1998. The organization’s members include the “Red Hatters” and “Pink Hatters”. Members ages 50 and above are the Red Hatters, who wear red hats and purple attire, while members under the age of 50 are the Pink Hatters, who wear pink hats and lavender or lilac attire.

The Copperas Cove chapter strives to be more than just a social organization but a charitable one as well. The Elite Red Hatters have given scholarships to graduating high school seniors each year. In 2021, the chapter gave three $1,000 scholarships. The requirement for scholarship recipients is that they must be a Copperas Cove ISD student, maintaining a 3.0 GPA, having a family member who is a member of the Red Hat Society and the submission of an essay. Scholarships are also open to the grandchildren of Elite Red Hatter members if the members have had custody or raised their grandchildren at some point.

The Elite Red Hatters have given scholarships for the past six years, but this month marked the first time that the organization has given a stipend to a previous scholarship recipient.

Elite Red Hatters President/Queen Martha Jackson presented Anaiya DeShong-McGruder with a certificate of recognition and $500 in cash at the Copperas Cove Starbucks as a reward for academic excellence.

DeShong-McGruder graduated from Copperas Cove High School in 2018. She attended Southern Methodist University, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and three minors in mathematics, neuroscience and psychology.

“I think what she qualifies as excelling is as in like a balance of academic achievement as well as getting involved within the community, and I made sure to incorporate both since the beginning of time,” DeShong-McGruder said. “So, all throughout college, I made sure I was really involved in Dallas, so that was tutoring elementary students and teaching them how to read, to volunteering at hospitals, also doing internships at hospitals, being a physics lab Teacher's Assistant, but then also balancing all of the studies.”

DeShong-McGruder said she first went to college with the intention of becoming a software developer.

“I thought that’s what I always wanted to do, but that quickly changed, and I shifted toward medicine, which is my passion now,” DeShong-McGruder said. “My ultimate goal is to be a pediatric neurosurgeon.”

DeShong-McGruder has been accepted into Johns Hopkins University and plans to apply to medical school.

“When [Jackson] and her organization presented me with a scholarship, I was so overwhelmed with excitement, but also, it’s just a little nerve-racking because they're investing so much into you to do well in the future, but I was just super excited and blessed to receive that money. It helped pay for tuition and books, and to receive a stipend now, it's amazing.”

Jackson was glad to be able to give a stipend, especially to someone who has excelled so well and is continuing their education even further.

“It means everything to me,” Jackson said. She added that she funded the stipend herself out of her own pocket because she wanted to show that recognition and appreciation to DeShong-McGruder.

Jackson said that there is a possibility of future stipends, depending on whether the scholarship recipients show the type of academic excellence like DeShong-McGruder has.