Fundraising and Scholarship
The Pearl Allen Norman Scholarship
Officially established on June 10th, 2021
From her early childhood on, Mrs. Pearl Allen Norman has loved learning and education. Despite the obvious hardships of losing her mother as a toddler, she stubbornly pursued an education; maintaining perfect attendance, getting good grades and participating in school activities. Her capacity for learning, especially memorizing material, is incredible; she can recite poems in their entirety that she learned in grade school. Her favorite poems are As You Go Through Life by Ella Wheeler Wilcox and The Daffodils by William Wordsworth. Pearl particularly loved English and grammar; she had high hopes of becoming an English teacher. Most people who meet her ask if she was a teacher because of the way she speaks up and clearly enunciates every word.
Pearl attended U.S. Jones from the 1st grade to the 8th grade, which was the highest grade level attainable at the time. She was the Salutatorian of her graduating class. With an older sister living in Baltimore, Maryland, she was able to continue her education at Frederick Douglass High School, where she received a high school diploma upon graduating from the 12th grade in 1937. However, Pearl could not afford college.
Pearl never lost her love of education. She saw to her children’s education, with six of the seven attaining bachelor degrees and five attaining post graduate degrees. She was also instrumental in helping children in the community with their education. Her household had the encyclopedias that all of the neighborhood children used for their studies. She encouraged neighborhood parents to attend school meetings with her, sewed school uniforms for her children as well as for neighborhood children, and supported every school fundraiser. Pearl noticed that one little boy in the neighborhood was having difficulty with his vision. She knew of an organization that was working to help low-income children, so she called and had someone from the organization come out to visit the child and his parents. That visit resulted in a full eye examination, eye glasses and follow-up exams. That little boy went on to get a college education and is now a teacher.
In her honor, the children of Mrs. Norman have established this scholarship to help some needy young person realize his/her dream of pursuing a college education.
ULYSSES SIMPSON JONES SCHOOL NATIONAL ALUMNI ASSOCIATION SCHOLARSHIP FUNDS
Starting or sponsoring a scholarship is an exciting and rewarding way to turn a student’s dream into reality.
We are offering you the opportunity to establish a scholarship to help students and honor individuals who profoundly valued educational excellence, encouraged, motivated, and supported students. You can set up the scholarship in honor of your parents, teachers, community leaders, spiritual leaders, business owners, or any other person or entity that meets the criteria above.
Anyone wishing to establish a scholarship can do so by sending in the name of the person you want to honor and providing a brief description of what that person did to develop students at U. S. Jones High School or in the community. A scholarship can be started with any amount of money and an established target. For example, one could start a scholarship in honor of John Brown for $60 annually by donating $5.00 a month. Others more abundantly blessed might want to honor a teacher or administrator by committing to donate $100 a month for a $1,200 annual scholarship. Everyone can pick an amount that works for them so we all can participate in assisting young students to develop their minds by attending colleges or universities after graduating from high school.
We will post all scholarship honorees and recipients on our website and ask that payments are completed by May 1st annually so that the scholarships can be presented to students at the end of their academic year in May. Each sponsor would have the option of presenting their scholarship to the recipient in person or using other methods of delivery.
Providing academic scholarships to students in the Demopolis City School System is referenced in the Ulysses Simpson Jones School National Alumni Association’s Constitution and By-laws. Therefore, we want everyone to participate in supporting scholarships if they see the value of helping young students achieve academic excellence. Thank you for participating!
EXAMPLES OF POSSIBLE SCHOLARSHIP HONOREES
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Ulysses Simpson Jones Founder’s Scholarship Fund
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Professor Terry McCall Patton, Change Innovator & distinguished principal
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Albert J. Rowser, Administrator & Mentor
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James Irvin Bell, Administrator & Math Wizard
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Inez Reese Thurman, Senior Advisor & Literary Champion
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Annie Pearl Black, Notorious Grade School Teacher who expected EXCELLENCE
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Blanche Glass, Sports, Physical Education General & Activities Coordinator
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Cora Brown Scott, Home Economics & Family Life Counselor
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William Brasfield, Music Teacher and Band Director
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Joseph Murphy, Music and Social Studies Teacher and Choir Director
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Booker T. Washington, Sports, Football, Basketball, & Softball Coach
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Hardenia Johnson, Journalism Giant for The Demopolis Times
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Clarence Blackmon, Sports, Basketball Coach & Biology Master
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Joseph Henderson, Sports, Football & Basketball Coach, & Track/Field General
The family of our celebrated centenarian Mrs. Pearl Allen Norman, who attended U. S. Jones, has already established a scholarship in her honor!!! See it shown above! We are certain that other scholarship funds will be added soon. Please contact us if you have an interest in establishing one to honor someone that had a positive impact on your life.
Please let us hear your thoughts and ideas about how to get your favorite scholarship organized and funded!
* Any scholarship donations may be sent to U. S. Jones School National Alumni Association, P. O. Box 543, Demopolis AL 36732. All email messages regarding the website's content should be sent to lelee@comcast.net, along with any questions you might have. It's your website so please enjoy it and tell others to visit at usjonesalumni.org any time. We will upgrade and change the website often to keep it fresh and interesting.
Click on the Word Document button below to print the form for scholarship donations.