Each Scholarship Creates Opportunity

Scholarships do more than cover tuition. They lift financial burdens, fuel ambition, and give students the freedom to focus on what matters most: growing, excelling, and giving back.

In 2025, CFMT awarded scholarships to 384 students attending 159 colleges and universities. For the first time in our history, total support has surpassed $1 million.

This milestone for CFMT represents belief in students, generosity in action, and a ripple effect that reaches far beyond graduation.

Every scholarship begins with a donor’s choice to invest in a student’s potential. What students do with that support turns generosity into lasting impact.

The Help that Transforms

Caroline Powell, a recipient of the Brian Ralls Memorial Scholarship who double-majored in applied mathematics and Hispanic studies at the University of Tennessee, shared what that support meant to her and her family.

“No matter the amount, it felt like such a relief and a joy to know that was money my family didn’t have to worry about. It was a gift.”

Research shows every additional $1,000 in grant aid can increase persistence and graduation rates by 1.5–2 percentage points (communityforce.com). That relief turns into opportunity, and then into real results.

“Instead of worrying about tuition, I could join a malaria research lab, explore different fields, and finally find my path in electrical engineering,” said Xiyan Zhu, a graduate of Columbia University and a recipient of the Woman’s Club of Nashville Scholarship. “I don’t think I would’ve had the confidence to do that without the scholarship.”

When donors decide to invest in students, that belief lifts the pressure and makes space for students to excel, and excellence inspires something powerful.

Impact that Grows

That freedom to focus on growth doesn’t end with graduation. Often, it sparks a drive to give back—continuing the cycle donors began.

Andrew Brown, an aerospace major at MTSU now heading into Delta’s Propel program, receiving The Donald and Frances McDonald Endowed Scholarship Fund & Walter Reece (Walt) Montgomery Scholarship shaped his commitment to pay the generosity he experienced forward:

“I’m already mentoring students and teaching young pilots through Civil Air Patrol and Aviation Explorers. In the future, I plan to create scholarships for others following in my footsteps.”

Across all past recipients, scholarships have opened doors to research labs, leadership roles, and community service. Studies show recipients are about 30% more likely to graduate on time (communityforce.com). And when they do, many become donors, mentors, and advocates themselves—paying it forward in ways large and small.

That spirit of generosity came full circle for Kimberly Amaya Hernandez, a first-generation college student and recipient of the Women in Technology of Tennessee (WiTT) Endowment Scholarship. One day, she drove past a CFMT billboard featuring her own photo and the words “Make More Scholarships Possible.”

“For four years, they supported more than just my education, they supported my dreams,” Kimberly shared. “When I saw that billboard, I realized I had become part of that story. It was a full-circle moment.”

Kimberly and Andrew remind us what can happen when donors choose to empower students: that support becomes something larger than a scholarship, pulling scholars into an ecosystem of generosity that keeps expanding as they find their own ways to give back and keep the story moving forward.

Thank you for Making it Possible

Together, CFMT and our Donor partners create countless opportunities for students across Middle Tennessee, and the best is yet to come.

You didn’t just make scholarships possible, you started a ripple of generosity that grows every time a student thrives and then helps someone else do the same.

We can’t wait to make more scholarships possible together.