Living Inspirations Fuel the St. Patrick of Ireland Scholarship
Gerry and Allison Mulvey sit together, carefully reading through applications for the St. Patrick of Ireland scholarship that they established through the Chahta Foundation. As they read, the voices of the potential recipients echo in their hearts. Since launching the scholarship four years ago, Gerry and Allison find they come to care for each student who receives it.
“One question on the application asks who they admire in the Choctaw Nation and why,” Allison says. “That helps to put a face to the applications. We come to care for the recipients very much and tell them to please keep in touch. We want to find out what they’re up to.”
The couple initiated the St. Patrick of Ireland scholarship in honor of Choctaws who gathered from their meager possessions and sent a donation to the Irish people during the Potato Famine in the 1840s. Gerry and Allison are both of Irish descent.
“The two countries and the two peoples understand each other well, and we want to strengthen that,” Allison says.
“The scholarship itself is set up in perpetuity,” Gerry says. “It will go on long after our names are dust.”
Gerry and Allison are inspirations with their own lives as they stay active in work and education.
Gerry chose to take a one-year sabbatical from teaching meteorology at the University of the Incarnate Word due to the COVID-19 crisis. He used the opportunity to launch Night Hawk Weather, a consulting business for energy and aviation companies. However, its focus is to gain contracts so he can hire college students and help them with experience for their senior projects.
Gerry’s latest paper on ethics will be published soon in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). He is also on the AMS ethics committee and the chairman of the Physics and Engineering Section of the Texas Academy of Sciences.
With the crisis, Allison halted her usual work of substituting at a local Episcopal school. She completed her master’s degree in education online, graduating in May. She sits on the Harp and Shamrock Society board as second vice president and is the informal director of the Spouses and Friends of the AMS.
She and Gerry also take time to volunteer weekly at a local food pantry through their church.
“So we’ve been working,” Gerry laughs.
The couple isn’t stopping there. They were recently inspired by Gerry’s cousin, who works in the Governor Dolph Briscoe Jr., Texas Agricultural Lifetime Leadership (TALL) Program at Texas A&M. With that knowledge, Gerry is passionate about connecting Choctaw students to the agriculture program at Oklahoma State University. He sees this educational program as a way to create international business opportunities for Choctaw students and the Choctaw Nation.
“The Choctaws have a bond with the soil,” Gerry says. “Agriculture and ranching are things the Choctaws believe in, and this looked like something which was just built into that.”
Gerry and Allison paused their full schedules to select the three 2020 St. Patrick of Ireland scholarship recipients and treasured the chance to meet two of them through a Zoom call recently.
“They are moving women,” Gerry says. “No moss growing under their feet.”
It’s no wonder the couple has selected generous, hard-working students who will make the most of the St. Patrick of Ireland scholarship. Gerry and Allison are living inspirations.
Credit: Sarah Elizabeth Sawyer
