By Heather Horton/south news editor
A scholarship fund has been established to honor the founder of Women in New Roles who died Oct. 28.
Emily Nail Lunday Garrett, 86, was responsible for bringing the WINR program to TCC in 1978.
Lunday Garrett’s legacy will live on through WINR and the TCC scholarship foundation. Director of donor relations Liz Sisk confirmed the family has established the Emily Lunday Garrett WINR Founders Award.
The family, in cooperation with the TCC Foundation, is building the fund to benefit scholars enrolled in the WINR program. The award will be available for multiple years.
Lunday Garrett obtained an English literature degree from Howard Payne University and two master’s degrees, one in counseling from Texas Christian University.
Associate professor of psychology and WINR program coordinator Triesha Light said Lunday Garrett was a visionary.
“She was brilliant, creative and very student-oriented,” Light said. “She was extremely perceptive. That’s how she started the WINR program.”
In the late ’70s, Lunday Garrett taught psychology at TCC and noticed a trend, Light said. More nontraditional students, divorced or single women began signing up for her classes. Lunday Garrett found herself spending time with these women after class. Her desire to make a positive difference in the lives of her students prompted her to create the WINR program.
WINR “starts with that journey into self and helping a woman answer three questions: Where have I been? Where am I now? Where am I going?” Light said.
Thirty-four years later, WINR is still relevant and viable at TCC. The program’s mission is the same today as it was so many years ago, Light said.
Lunday Garrett was instrumental in implementing key components of WINR, Light said.
These components help women learn interviewing skills, resume building, testing, counseling, career placement, leadership development and more.
“Emily believed strongly that we can make a difference in this world,” Light said. “We change the world one woman at a time. She brought smiles, a caring heart and a shining light for all to see. The world needs more wonderful people like Emily Lunday Garrett.”
NE counselor Anita Peters was also a former student of Lunday Garrett.
“I am so sorry to hear of her death,” Peters said. “She touched countless lives in such a positive way — what a remarkable legacy to leave behind.”
For more information on WINR, go to www.tccd.edu/Courses_and_Programs/Transitional/WINR or call Light at 817-515-4740.
