School of Education   NewsRelease

CRYSTAL WOOD MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP CREATED
FOR UNCG EDUCATIONAL INTERPRETING STUDENTS

Crystal Wood

GREENSBORO—A memorial scholarship honoring Crystal Dawn Wood, who died in 1999, has been established at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro where she was studying educational interpreting for the deaf.

To be called the Crystal Dawn Wood Scholarship Fund, the endowment is being established by her parents, Lelia and Larry Wood and their children, Melissa Wood and Michael Wood, all of Reidsville, who are pledging $100,000. The first two scholarships of $2,125 each were awarded this fall to seniors Erin D. Grunau of Clayton and Jamie M. Hill of Muscle Shoals, Ala. The endowment will be fully funded in 2005. Additional gifts can be made to the fund through the UNCG Development Office at 256-0184.

Wood Scholars will be selected from rising juniors or seniors in the educational interpreter preparation program in UNCG’s Department of Specialized Education Services. Both merit and need are selection criteria, and the scholarship can be renewed for one additional year if recipients maintain high academic standing.

Crystal Wood was born in Greensboro in 1978 and moved to Reidsville in 1984. She graduated from Rockingham County High School in 1996. She was the granddaughter of Lois L. McMichael of Eden and the late Marvin H. McMichael, and the late Wayne E. and Vera B. Wood of Martinsville, VA.

Wood became interested in learning sign language through a friendship she had with a young man who was deaf. Through working with him and his interpreter, she discovered that working with deaf children was what she wanted to do with her life. She spent her freshman year at Greensboro College, and then transferred to UNCG where she began studying educational interpreting.

After committing herself to the field, she worked hard pursuing her degree, taking on additional volunteer activities, including work at the Central N.C. School for the Deaf. Wood died on April 27, 1999, from injuries sustained in a car wreck one day earlier. The fatal accident took place on Battleground Avenue in Greensboro as she was headed for class at UNCG.  Her death brought an outpouring of sympathy in Rockingham County and at UNCG.

"Crystal loved her career choice and felt that there was a great need for interpreters and educators for the deaf population," said her parents. "We thought that it was only fitting that since she could not fulfill her dream that others should, and maybe we could make it a little easier for them financially. The reason we chose to set up the scholarship for junior and senior students only was that if a student had made it as far as the junior year, then we felt that he or she would be as dedicated to the profession as Crystal would have been."

Dr. Marilyn Friend, head of the department, expressed her gratitude and said that the new scholarship would provide wonderful opportunities for many students in the future.

"This scholarship fund is a wonderful and fitting memorial for Mr. and Mrs. Wood to create in their daughter's name," said Friend. "I didn't know Crystal personally but I have been told that she was a bright student who was dedicated to the field of educational interpreting, and who would have made a real contribution as a fine interpreter. Her parents have done a wonderful thing, and I want to express gratitude on behalf of the School of Education, our department and the University."

UNCG's teacher education programs were recently named the state's best when the State Board of Education released its rankings on Sept. 7.  Education has been a major offering in UNCG’s curriculum since its opening in 1892 as the State Normal and Industrial School. With major strengths in business, science, the humanities and technology, as well as education, UNCG offers the community and the Triad and state an unparalleled combination of multidisciplinary resources for developing new knowledge, stimulating business and inspiring leadership.

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