ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA – As a first-generation college student, Dolores Vees ’72 knows
firsthand the importance of having invaluable support throughout college.
That is why she recently established the Dolores Vees Endowed Scholarship at Winthrop
University. The scholarship will award annually to a first-generation student who
is majoring in psychology or counseling and development at the graduate level.
Vees, who retired as a counselor from the Rock Hill School District, now owns a private
counseling practice in Rock Hill. “I’m committed to the counseling profession and
I believe in the power of counselors to make a difference in someone’s life,” Vees
said about establishing the scholarship.
Vees said she was compelled to designate the scholarship for first-generation students
after hearing representatives with the American Counseling Association talk about
the importance of assisting first-generation college students. That notion was reinforced
after reading U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s book, “My Beloved
World.” “Justice Sotomayor talked at length in her book about being a first-generation
college student and the importance of mentors in her journey.”
The Atlanta, Georgia, native earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from Emory
University and received her master’s degree in counseling from Winthrop.
“I’ve always been drawn to students who had strong potential but just needed guidance
and mentoring,” said Vees. “This scholarship will support students, who like I did,
need a little extra boost of support.”
