View From The Hill
(4/02/09)

Jesse Keeling Scholarship

It’s been nearly a year since a Western Kentucky University graduate student was killed in an accident in Louisville.
In this week’s View from the Hill, Amy Bingham tells us how Jesse Keeling’s legacy is living on.

Beginning this fall, a graduate student in the school psychology department at WKU will receive a one thousand dollar scholarship named for Jesse Keeling.

It’s a fitting tribute for a young woman who’se destiny in the field was never realized.

Robert, Donna and Levi Keeling are constantly remembering their beloved daughter and sister Jesse.

Jesse’s life was cut short on derby day last year when she was killed in a  wreck on I-65 while travelling to her home in Louisville.

“There was a driver coming the other way heading to Alabama, he crossed the center line and hit her coming the other direction.”

Jesse’s family and friends were shocked and devastated.  But the family quickly began to think of ways to honor her memory.
 
“We decided since Western and the school meant so much to her that’s where we wanted to focus.”

Jesse was working on her master’s degree in school psychology.  A single white rose still sits in her mailbox in the department.
 
“She was very fun loving, she was smart, a friend to everbody, everybody just loved her.

Dr. Carl Myers was one of her psychology professors.  He and a dozen of Jesse’s closest friends are on the Jesse Keeling scholarship committee.
 
“There’s just been a huge effort to grow this fund through her parents, her friends.

In just eleven months, the fund has grown to more than 20-thousand dollars.
 
“We’ve just been overwhelmed with gratitude for how strong it’s grown…we just think it’s a wonderful tribute to our daughter and her friends who helped make it happen…our friends who helped make it happen. 

The deadline for applications to the Jesse Keeling Scholarship Fund is April 15th.  The first recipient will be enrolled in the psychology graduate program this fall.

With this week’s View from the Hill, I’m Amy Bingham.