Sandra Morgan - '76
A Chance Encounter Leads to A Life-Changing Legacy at Southern Wesleyan
When Sandra Morgan reluctantly agreed to coordinate her class reunion at Southern Wesleyan University in 2016, she had no idea that decision would spark a chain of events leading to an annual international student scholarship and, ultimately, her new role as Alumni Association President.
“I didn’t want to go to homecoming,” Morgan recalls with a laugh. “I had booked a trip to Pensacola, Florida to see the Blue Angels fly, and that was what I wanted to do.” But the promise of a parade, cookout, and special activities convinced her to change her plans.
That pivotal decision led to a chance encounter with a Nigerian student whose father had played soccer at Southern Wesleyan forty years earlier. The meeting stirred memories for Morgan, who had been a cheerleader when the student’s father attended the university.
“I wondered what happened to the two Nigerian soccer players,” Morgan says. “And there, at the cookout, stood the daughter of one. Her dad had returned to Nigeria, never to see the United States again. Because of the way he was treated at Southern Wesleyan University, he passed on the love and desire for her to come to Southern Wesleyan.”
Moved by this connection, Morgan invited the student to Thanksgiving dinner. During their conversation, she learned about the unique challenges international students face, particularly their inability to work off-campus due to visa restrictions and limited scholarship opportunities.
What began as a desire to create a modest $500 scholarship evolved into something far greater. When approached about establishing an endowed fund requiring $25,000, Morgan initially balked. “I left there that day telling my husband that woman’s crazy. I don’t have $25,000—I just put two kids through college!”
But divine inspiration struck through an unexpected source: a cookbook. Morgan had previously created a family cookbook that garnered interest from others. With support from Southern Wesleyan’s administration, she developed Go Wide, Around the World with Contagious Flavors, featuring 160 of her recipes, along with several international recipes with stories from the university’s global community.
It didn’t take Morgan long to hit her $25,000 goal. “Before the first year was up, I’d already reached it,” Morgan says. “By the second year, I’d almost reached $40,000. I’m like, ‘God, how’d you do this?’ His math is not my math.”
Now her endowed fund, which has grown to $40,000, has already benefited students from African and Hispanic countries. In recognition of her efforts, Morgan received the 2021 Dr. John “Chuck” Mealy Outstanding Volunteer Service Award at the President’s Gala.
As the newly appointed President of Southern Wesleyan’s Alumni Association, Morgan aims to inspire similar connections among alumni. “I hope to get more alum involved in just being on campus and getting to know these students,” she says. “When you get to know them, all of a sudden there are ways that you can help them.”
SWU has approximately 20,000 alumni worldwide, and Morgan sees tremendous potential for growth in SWU’s alumni engagement. She has challenged board members to each recruit one new person this year, with a goal of adding seven additional members to the current board.
“I don’t want them to miss their God stories,” Morgan says, “that can happen right on that campus.”