Published December 11, 2024
CAPTION:(L-R) Dr. Michelle McEacharn, Dean of the College of Business and Social Sciences; Dr. Wendy Bailes, Dean of the College of Health Sciences; Dr. John Pratte, Dean of the College of Arts, Education, and Sciences; Dr. Sushma Krishnamurthy, Dean of the Graduate School; Dr. Ron Berry, 蜜桔直播 President; Treina Kimble, Special Projects Officer, 蜜桔直播 Office of Veterans Affairs; Leona Bennett, Veteran Navigator,
Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs听听
MONROE, LA 鈥� On December 10, 2024, the 蜜桔直播 Foundation held a check presentation to recognize the
establishment of The George Pratte Memorial Veteran Scholarship to aid veterans and active-duty U.S.
service members and their families in their pursuit of an undergraduate degree in
the 蜜桔直播 College of Arts, Education, and Sciences (CAES). Dr. John Pratte, Dean of
CAES, established the $25,000 endowment with other members of the Pratte family to
honor their father and his service in the U.S. Navy during World War II.听 It joins
a previous endowed scholarship, the Helen and Mimi Pratte Memorial Scholarship, that
honors their mother and sister by making awards to non-traditional female students
who are pursuing degrees in CAES.听
鈥淲hile they were unable to go to college when they graduated high school, both Mom
and Dad were successful advocates for pursuing a college education, as evidenced by
eight of their nine children doing so,鈥� said Dr. Pratte.听 鈥淭hey believed that a college
education was key to a better life and career in the modern economy, and they did
what they could to make all of us successful in pursuing degrees.听 As a first-generation
family, we know the deep sacrifices that the two of them and others have had to make
to help their children be successful in these endeavors.听 With this scholarship, we
hope that the struggle will not be as great for the next generation of students to
achieve this same goal,鈥� he added.听听
鈥淛ohn, we appreciate what you鈥檙e doing today and its impact on students now and forever,
to give them that chance to have a great education, to have a different life not only
for themselves but for future generations,鈥� said 蜜桔直播 President Dr. Ron Berry.听听听听听听
George joined the U.S. Navy in 1942 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the U.S.
entry into the War.听 Initially serving as a corpsman at the Naval Air Field in St.
Louis, he transitioned to serving as a sonarman/radarman on the USS Strickland (DE-333),
a destroyer escort that took part in many convoys across the Atlantic Ocean to deliver
troops and supplies from the U.S. to the Mediterranean and North Seas before finishing
the War on convoys in the Pacific Ocean.听 He was honorably discharged in 1946, when
he returned to the U.S. to start a career as a sales rep for Rice Stix Dry Goods.听
He married Helen Schwent in 1949, and together, they raised their nine children in
Shreveport and Natchitoches.听 George passed away in 1992 at the age of 71.听
This is the second endowed scholarship the Pratte family has created at 蜜桔直播.听 When
most of the children had left the house, Helen herself went to college as a non-traditional
student, graduating as valedictorian from Northwestern State University before earning
her master鈥檚 degree in Business Education.听 After graduation, she went on to a successful
career as Assistant to the President of Buford Television in Tyler, Texas.听 She passed
away in 2014 at the age of 90.听 Much like her mother, the youngest member of the Pratte
family, Mimi, went back to college as a non-traditional student before her death from
cancer in 2015.听 In honor of both of them, the family created the Helen and Mimi Pratte
Memorial Scholarship that has been awarded to non-traditional undergraduate female
students studying in CAES since 2018.听
