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Regal Entertainment employees create Pellissippi State scholarship
to honor boss
Some gifts keep on giving, and staff members in Regal Entertainment
Group’s executive office had an interesting idea on how
to present such a gift.
They chipped in and bought a college scholarship.
For Christmas 2004, the staff of J.E. Henry, senior vice president
and chief information officer at the Knoxville-based movie theater
company, announced the creation of a college scholarship at Pellissippi
State in Henry’s name.
Jennifer Bohlken, director of information technology application
support, and Yolanda Beeler, Henry’s executive assistant,
had the idea for the unusual gift and began collecting donations
to create the scholarship.
Working with Pellissippi State officials, the staff members established
a J.E. Henry Scholarship that will be awarded on a one-time basis
for the fall 2005 school term. Among the criteria for selection:
the student must be new to this college; must have a financial need,
though not have to qualify for federal or state grants; and must
have a 2.75 grade point average from the last high school or college
attended. Applicants do not have to be associated with Regal Entertainment
Group or its employees.
Applications will be reviewed in early April. The scholarship
will be administered by the Pellissippi State Foundation.
This is not the first time that Regal executive office staff members
have thought up unusual ideas for holiday gifts.
One year, they gave money to the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation
Center in Henry’s name, because of his involvement with
the Fort Sanders Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Covenant
Health. (He has served as board chairman and has participated
in a number of fundraising events to support the center.)
But Henry, who used the GI Bill to put himself through East Tennessee
State University and the University of Tennessee, was especially
taken with this latest example of gift giving.
“I was surprised and very pleased. I thought it was a very
creative idea,” Henry said. “Obviously, education
is very important, as the world becomes more complex and the competition
for jobs increases. I am honored to have a scholarship named for
me, and I hope it makes a difference in a young person’s
life.”
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