Ex-missionary founds scholarship

Northwest Missouri State University alumna Carolyn Houts, who spent many years as a Baptist missionary in Ghana, has established the Carolyn Houts International Student Scholarship.

The scholarship, set up through the Northwest Foundation, is the first of its kind for the university and will be awarded to international students with first preference given to those from Africa. The first award will not take place until after Houts' death.

"I hope the students who receive this scholarship will get a good education, and they will return to be leaders in their country," Houts said. "One of the problems is when they come to America, they don’t go back. I’ve seen promising young people come over here, and they don’t go back to contribute to their society, and it’s needed."

Houts graduated from Northwest in 1964 with a degree in music education. She also attended  graduate school at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City before beginning her 35-year career in foreign missions. She returned to Missouri permanently in 2010 and lives in Grant City.

For more information about supporting the Carolyn Houts International Student Scholarship, call the Northwest Foundation at (660) 562-1248 or e-mail advance@nwmissouri.edu.