Scholarship Recipients

Abigail McLemore Hernandez Memorial Scholarship

Abby was full of life, determination, brilliance, intelligence, resilience, and most of all, love. Abby was passionate about everything she did. When she decided to become a paralegal, nothing could stop her. During the course, Abby was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a bone cancer. The treatment involved the amputation of her leg. For most students, with the course only halfway finished, this would have meant dropping out. For Abby, it meant not letting cancer take this away from her. Abby had always been at the top of the class, academically. She stayed there, completing the tests, assignments, and classroom participation, through a combination of recorded lectures, skype, facetime, and email. She returned to the classroom on the last day of class to take the final with her classmates. She participated in the mock trial and graduated as the valedictorian of the class. Abby was not able to fulfill her dream of working as a paralegal because, shortly after graduation, she found out that the cancer had spread to her lungs. She fought hard, stayed positive, and did everything that could be done. She died five months later, at the age of 27. Abby was a sparkler. She was never defined by the disease that took so much from her. Her sparkler of a life did not last long enough for the people who loved her. Yet Abby lived her whole lifetime with kindness, generosity, humor, purpose, challenge, excellence, and love. In Abby’s memory, Jac has established a scholarship to provide a $500 cash award to one student in each UH Paralegal Program class that teaches.

Abby Scholarship Recipients

Cindy Brennan

Allyson Fischer

Tait Vimont

Kayla Derks

Danielle Gilliam

Robert Carlisle

Houston Association of Legal Professionals Scholarship

HALP generously provides a $300 scholarship to a student in each class who has attained a high academic standing and has financial need. Our program deeply appreciates the support of HALP.