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PRESCOTT ATTORNEY ENDOWS HAIDE
KOSKINEN MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP FUND AT PRESCOTT COLLEGE
Prescott College announces the establishment of the Haide Koskinen Memorial
Scholarship Fund, an endowed scholarship award for a student studying at
the College's Kino Bay Center for Cultural and Ecological Studies in Mexico.
Prescott attorney Liisa Raikkonen funded the scholarship with an initial
gift of $10,000, in memory of her daughter, Haide Koskinen, who died in October
1999. From January to July 1999 Haide had been an enrolled Prescott College
Adult Degree Program student studying sustainable community development and
had studied in the College's Resident Degree Program from 1987 to 1989.
"Haide was a very spiritual person. She learned things quickly. She
had a wonderfully open mind; she never thought she was better than anyone
else. She was very considerate, generous and had a good code of ethics. She
was not someone who gave excuses - she was a very straightforward, down to
earth kind of person. She loved her Finnish culture, taking my mother's maiden
name when my mother passed away," said Raikkonen.
Locally, Koskinen, along with her brother, opened and managed Moctezuma's
Bar on Whiskey Row.
At Prescott College, Koskinen was one of the first students to enroll in
the new sustainable community development program. "My personal mission
for my education," Koskinen wrote in her personal statement in early
1999, "is to continue to explore the issues that intrigue me most and
to develop both my analytical and creative sides. It is my hope to work toward
a way to implement the principles of ecology in the 'real world' in order
to increase the chances for our survival both as a species and a planet and
to become an instrument for change in my own life and the lives of others."
"The thing I remember most about Haide is that she had a quiet intensity," said
Terril Shorb, a faculty member with the Adult Degree Program and Koskinen's
advisor. "She had a way of going deep into her studies to investigate
complex relationships across cultures, genders and between humanity and the
natural world, which frankly, is rare. You rarely see that type of intensity
in someone so young. I had very high hopes, believing this woman would help
change the world."
Raikkonen started the scholarship because of the unique opportunity Prescott
College provided her daughter.
"Prescott College gave Haide an opportunity to study in areas unavailable
in traditional college environments. She was able to blossom at Prescott
College," Raikkonen said. "She enjoyed going to school, and to
me, the opportunities she had been given warrants me to give the opportunity
to other young people in her memory."
Annually, five percent of the value of the fund, will be awarded as a scholarship
in April to a Prescott College student in good academic standing actively
engaged in any aspect of environmental studies research based at the College's
research field station in Kino Bay, Mexico. The first scholarship will be
awarded in 2003.
"Haide always had an affinity for ocean studies. She loved the water
and ocean life," said Raikkonen. "Students at the Kino Center are
so into their studies and so motivated. And what a beautiful environment
to be in - living and experiencing the culture."
Raikkonen herself, and husband Tony Ebarb, graduated from the Prescott College
Adult Degree Program in the 80s. They both went on to law school and currently
own and run E.R. Taxes in Prescott.
"If Prescott College had not been there it would have been virtually
impossible for us to comfortably and conveniently go to school while supporting
our family. Prescott College gave us the opportunity to work, go to school
and keep our family together. We were very lucky to have a place like this
in our community," said Raikkonen.
Raikkonen and Ebarb, who currently serves on the Prescott College Board
of Trustees, say they will continue sponsoring events, including another
concert featuring baritone Charles Edwin Taylor and a possible dinner and
wine tasting, to benefit the memorial scholarship fund. Together, they have
already raised almost $60,000 to fund an endowed scholarship for the Prescott
College student representative on the Board of Trustees.
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