Thea Foundation Reaches Scholarship Endowment Of $2 Million

The North Little Rock-based Thea Foundation Wednesday announced that it had reached its goal of raising $2 million to endow 30 college scholarships for artistically inclined students who can then use the money to pursue whatever academic field they choose.

The foundation began the campaign to raise $2 million in July 2013 hoping to raise the money by this July, which it did. The Siloam Springs-based Windgate Charitable Foundation sweetened the pot with a $500,000 challenge grant if it met its goal. That money will be used for the Thea Foundation’s administrative expenses. A check in that amount was given to the Thea Foundation Wednesday by John Brown, the foundation’s executive director.

The scholarship program was begun in 2002, one year after the Thea Foundation was started by Paul and Linda Leopoulos in honor of their late daughter, Thea, who had enjoyed academic success at North Little Rock High after she became interested in the arts.

“The arts are important in everyone’s lives,” Paul Leopoulos said. “The arts generate civility amongst people and create and explain culture in our society. The arts create a calmness and confidence that fosters peace. The arts warms our hearts and souls and take us to places that are important to us, and they give us a peace of mind. The arts are very impactful during the educational process of our kids.”

The foundation annually provides 30 scholarships worth $80,000. Thanks to help from university partners who exceed the awards with awards of their own, more than $2 million has been awarded to 280 students, about three quarters of it by the partners. The UALR Department of Art matches a $2,000 scholarship with its own $14,000 gift for students accepted into its program.

But many students will go on to use that scholarship to pursue other fields. Among the scholarship winners was Sam Clark, 25, who received a vocal performance scholarship and also was involved in dramatic arts and played guitar and in a jazz band in high school. He went on to earn a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Arkansas in 2012. He now works for Centerpoint. The arts helped him prepare for his career, he said.

“Mostly, it was a major confidence booster, especially with theater and dramatic arts, (being) able to conduct yourself in a room full of people – and even if you are nervous out of your mind, how to kind of keep that under wraps. … You never want to hear something from somebody who doesn’t seem confident,” he said.

Leopoulos said the scholarships have given opportunities to students who otherwise might not would have had them.

“Most of these young people wouldn’t have even been able to apply for a scholarship,” he said. “Many of them come up to Linda and me during our awards ceremony in May and they say, this is the first sibling in our family that is going to college.”