WSU alumnae Laura (McGinley) King and Janice Blair met for the first time at a recent church meeting in Seattle, where they discovered they have a special connection through Washington State University. One of the scholarships Laura received while attending WSU was the Mollola King Blair Endowed Scholarship.

Mollola lost her life at age 18 in a car crash caused by a 16-year old driver impaired by drugs and alcohol. Her parents, Randy and Janice Blair (’69 Ed), along other family and friends, created the scholarship to honor Mollola’s life. The primary requirement of this scholarship is a commitment to sobriety in hopes to prevent similar tragedies and also encourages recipients to focus rational thinking along with their academics.

The Mollola King Blair Endowed Scholarship provided much-needed support during her time at WSU, recalls Laura (‘06 Pharmacy; ‘11 DPH). “Not only did having scholarships make it so I didn’t have to work as many hours while I was attending school, earning scholarships made the financial burden of a graduate program feasible,” she says. Laura is now a successful pharmacist at a hospital in Seattle.

This year’s scholarship recipient, Isabelle Hyatt, plans to major in Business Finance. She served her first internship with KeyBank, where she experienced first-hand the consumer finance industry. She now looks forward to serving an internship for Morgan Stanley. Isabelle enjoys the spirit of “Cougs helping Cougs” and says, “The donors of this scholarship created the fund after going through tremendous adversity. I think creating something great for future students out of a terrible loss is an amazing deed.”

Over the years, more than 20 students have benefited from the generosity of Mollala’s family and friends. This scholarship keeps Mollola’s memory and legacy alive for years to come, while also providing opportunities for future students to succeed.