Representatives from San Antonio’s St. Mary’s Law School visited TAMIU to recruit students on Wednesday, Feb. 20 at the Western Hemispheric Trade Center.
At this event, a Lamar Bruni Vergara Scholarship, which will provide full scholarships to St. Mary’s University Law School for two Laredo students, was announced.
Dr. Charles Cotrell, St. Mary’s University president, said, “There is a long history between St. Mary’s Law School and Laredo, and this scholarship will help in preserving that tradition by making law school a reality for deserving students, starting this fall, for many years to come.”
During his presentation, Cotrell recognized university alumni who were Laredo natives to illustrate the long history between St. Mary’s and Laredo.
The $1 million donation from the Lamar Bruni Vergara Scholarship will provide two full-time Laredo students with full scholarships or four students with partial scholarships, depending on their meeting the requirements for both categories.
Administration of the scholarship will be handled through TAMIU, said Dr. Archibald Laud-Hammond, assistant professor of philosophy and political science and the pre-law advisor at TAMIU.
“It was a big success and historic, given the fact that we had St. Mary’s School of Law alumni who are presently judges attending the event,” he said.
Anthony Gonzalez, president of the Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Fraternity at TAMIU, discussed the finances involved in attending law school.
“Students who once feared going into law school due to the amount of debt which would be incurred now are astonished to find out that they may have their tuition either fully or partially paid,” he said.
St. Mary’s Law School will join the ranks of UT Austin, Texas Tech, Baylor, and SMU, who have been coming to Laredo annually for many years to recruit TAMIU students for their law schools.
Aside from St. Mary’s, the other school that offers financial assistance is Texas Tech, which set up a presidential scholarship for TAMIU students.
For more information on St. Mary’s Law Scholarship or the Texas Tech presidential scholarship, contact Dr. Laud-Hammond at 326-2652 or via e-mail at alhammond@tamiu.edu.