A new programmatic endowment created with a generous gift to the University of Mississippi from Mariamne Young pays tribute to the life and legacy of her late daughter while supporting students’ lives for generations.
The Amne Young Richardson Ole Miss Women’s Council Leadership Endowment specifically funds the leadership and mentorship aspects of the Ole Miss Women’s Council for Philanthropy (OMWC) scholarship program.
“I really love the work that the Women’s Council has been doing for nearly 25 years to transform the lives of Ole Miss students,” said Young, a resident of Oxford, Mississippi. “The Women’s Council is such a special scholarship program in that it offers enormous support and unique opportunities to its scholars.”
The OMWC provides each scholar with one of the most generous scholarships on campus. In addition to the $40,000 award ($10,000 a year for four years), Women’s Council scholars have access to a wide variety of other resources throughout their academic careers.
The scholars are paired with life and career mentors, participate in leadership symposiums and are encouraged to engage in volunteer and community service activities. The Women’s Council’s Global Leadership Circle initiative also provides these scholars with resources aimed at promoting international studies and internships.
“This endowment is more than just a donation,” said OMWC Chair Roane Rayner Grantham. “It’s an investment in the future of our scholars, crucial to sustaining the unique advantages of our program. Programmatic endowments like this extend their impact beyond academics; they foster leadership and personal growth among our scholars.”
Young said the experiential learning aspects of the Women’s Council program are enormously appealing to her, and her daughter would have enjoyed that as well.
“Providing these scholars with opportunities to travel and other educational opportunities outside the classroom are precisely the aspects of this program that Amne would want to support,” Young said. “She loved her time at Ole Miss and especially appreciated being introduced to new experiences.”
Students’ time as undergraduates should provide them with the flexibility to explore unexpected academic interests and professional opportunities, Young said.
“That’s certainly what happened to Amne when she was a student here. She initially attended Ole Miss with the idea that she wanted to be a dental hygienist. She thought she would be here for just two years to get the pre-requisite courses she needed.
“But Amne loved the university,” Young continued. “She joined Kappa Delta sorority and ended up staying at Ole Miss for another two years to get a Bachelor of Science degree in dietetics and nutrition. She had so much fun working in the dining area at Lenoir Hall and learning far more about so many other health-related career options.”
In 2008, Richardson graduated from the UM Medical Center’s dental hygiene program. She and Andrew Richardson married two years later and raised their three children — Prewitt, Graham and Liza — in Sumrall, Mississippi. Amne Richardson worked as a dental hygienist in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
In 2018, she was diagnosed with a rare, extremely aggressive form of cancer and passed away a year later. The loss inspired her mother to create a free, two-day camp held annually at Camp Hopewell in Oxford for kids, ages 6 to 17, who are dealing with grief.
“Amne’s life was full of laughter, and we all benefited from her raucous sense of humor,” Young said. “While life is, of course, different now that Amne is gone, I so enjoy reminiscing about her with her friends and spending as much time as I can with her children.
“Amne continues to live on through her children and I know the endowment established in her name also means she will touch the lives of other young people for many, many years to come.”
To make a gift to the Amne Young Richardson Ole Miss Women’s Council Leadership Endowment, click here, or to learn more about supporting the Ole Miss Women’s Council, contact Suzanne Helveston, OMWC program director, at shelveston@olemiss.edu or 662-915-2956, or online here.
By Jonathan Scott/UM Development