CEHS mourns the loss of Betty Schoenbaum, one of the College’s most generous donors and an advocate for the teaching profession in West Virginia.
Schoenbaum passed away on July 31, 2018, at the age of 100 at her home in Sarasota, Florida. She was predeceased by her husband, Alex, in 1996. The couple originally made their home in Charleston, West Virginia, where Alex founded the Shoney’s restaurant chain.
Together, the Schoenbaums built a legacy through their extraordinary philanthropic giving. In 1989, the Schoenbaums created the Alex and Betty Schoenbaum Teacher Preparation Scholarship at CEHS. The award, which provides approximately $40,000 of support for numerous education majors each year, is designed to encourage future teachers to stay in West Virginia to teach.
“Through the generosity and ongoing support of the Schoenbaum family, hundreds of CEHS candidates at both the undergraduate and graduate levels have been able to focus more on coursework and developing as professionals and less on the financial stress and burden of tuition,” said Allison Dagen, chair of the CEHS Department of Curriculum and Instruction/Literacy Studies scholarship committee. “These candidates successfully graduate and are then positioned to give back to the K-12 students in our state. In that way, the impact of the scholarship to CEHS candidates is, quite candidly, immeasurable.”
One former scholarship recipient, Isabella Droginske, cites the fund as the reason she was able to finish her teaching program. While enrolled in the Master of Arts in Certification Program in pursuit of her goal to become an English teacher, Droginske juggled three part-time jobs and feared she wouldn’t be able to handle a fourth.
“I know in my last year of school [the scholarship] really helped with costs,” Droginske said. “It made the difference between graduating and not graduating for me. It was the reason I was able to keep going.”
Droginske, who completed her degree in 2017, is now an English teacher and speech and debate coach at Wheeling Park High School in Wheeling, W.Va.
In 1993, Schoenbaum received the Most Loyal Mountaineer Award from WVU, and in 2006, she was inducted into the CEHS Hall of Fame. She was personally interested in each student who received her scholarship and called them “her kids,” often writing letters of encouragement and visiting with them.
Schoenbaum’s legacy at the College of Education and Human Services will live on through her fund as future West Virginia teachers continue to benefit from her generosity.