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Professor’s Secret Gift Changed Student’s Life

When Silvana Clark’s parents moved to another state in 1971 right after her high school graduation without asking where she would live or if she was going to college, she found herself completely alone with barely enough money for tuition and toothpaste. Her high school drama teacher George Meshke, who had just taken a job at a community college, suggested she register there, and Clark managed to scrape together enough money for her first semester while brushing her teeth with just water because she couldn’t afford toothpaste. As winter break approached, Clark realized she didn’t have enough money to continue and told Professor Meshke she would have to drop out and work really hard to return the following year. Two days later, Meshke approached her with his characteristically gruff demeanor and told her she probably didn’t deserve it, but there was a college drama scholarship and she had received it, completely covering her next semester’s costs.

Clark was shocked and relieved, immediately taking on multiple part-time jobs including dressing as the Easter Bunny at a mall to save money for future semesters. Toward the end of the school year, she thought her drama scholarship might be renewable and went to the financial aid department to inquire, only to discover the scholarship didn’t exist at all and the only information they could provide was that all her school fees had been paid. Clark realized that Professor Meshke had secretly paid for her entire semester out of his own pocket, a revelation that still brings tears to her eyes decades later. The summer job she secured as a camp counselor paid well enough for her to continue her education and eventually graduate, something she knows would have been impossible without Meshke’s hidden generosity and belief in her potential when she had nowhere else to turn.

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