Our Stories
Melinda Bryant
Alumna Melinda Bryant '83 Preserves Her Legacy and Supports Scholars
A few buildings, great professors and the challenge to budget to pay for classes—that’s what Melinda Bryant, ‘83 remembers most about her time as a college student at The University of Texas at San Antonio.
Fast forward 35 years and the retired accountant has named UTSA as a beneficiary of her retirement accounts to ultimately establish two endowed scholarships: the Melinda H. Bryant Endowed Athletic Scholarship and the Melinda H. Bryant, CPA Endowed Scholarship in Accounting.
Melinda’s motive to give to UTSA is personal. She remembers the challenges of being a college student working part-time and she wants to help students like her.
“I remember trying to scrape up my last dollars to make sure I had money for tuition and books,” said Melinda. “It was a struggle coming up with the money from semester to semester. I’d have to ask myself, ‘how many hours will I be able to afford this semester?’”
The daughter of a phone line technician and housewife, Melinda dropped out of college in San Marcos and relocated to San Antonio where she spent six years in between odd jobs. It was seeing the success of others around her that motivated her to return to school.
Despite being a non-traditional student in her late 20’s, Melinda persevered, graduating magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.
It was a career fair at UTSA that landed her a job with Touche Ross, one of the city’s largest accounting firms at the time. She soon moved up the ranks in the field, traveling the world as an auditor.
Now retired from the business, Melinda and her husband Daniel are UTSA football fans, and can be found cheering on their Roadrunners at every home game and tailgate.
Eager to help students now, the couple has also established the Melinda and Danny Bryant Annual Scholarship in Accounting, which will be awarded the first time in fall 2018. For Melinda, she hopes the scholarships she is establishing will give hope to students and inspire others to give back. All will provide endless opportunities for future Roadrunners.
“I hope to help students who are passionate in their studies. I want them to have a happy life, a fulfilling life and an exciting career,” said Melinda. “I’ve been blessed and it’s an honor to give back. I hope more people will consider making a gift and I strongly encourage them to do so, because if you can help somebody fulfil the dream of getting a college education, making that a reality, then I think that’s awesome.”
-Yvonne Zamora Byrd
To learn more about including UTSA in your estate plans contact Kim West at Kimberly.west@utsa.edu, or 210-458-7307.
A senior double majoring in psychology and statistics, Yesenia Yanez currently has three research projects under her belt and credits scholarships for allowing her the opportunity to pursue them all.
“I believe that research is one of the most important contributions to society someone can make. While some can theorize and speculate about the world around them, researchers get the opportunity to bring us all closer to the truth. I am honored to be a part of the research that is being conducted at UTSA and I hope to continue for the rest of my academic career,” said Yesenia.
A first-generation college student, Yesenia grew up in California. After graduating high school, she set her eyes on attending college in Texas, and landed at The University of Texas at San Antonio.
Her hard work and dedication to academics and student organizations, like the UTSA Ambassadors, landed her several scholarships including the Jerry and Mary Keating Annual Scholarship, the Rosemary Kowalski Scholarship and the Richard M. Wenzlaff Endowed Scholarship. All have allowed her the freedom to pursue research.
With the guidance of UTSA professor David Pillow, Yesenia’s first research project delved into the world of social media and how users portray themselves online. What she discovered was that the unique structure of Facebook yields identity conflict, which may in turn lead to anxiety and inhibition.
Since then she has expanded her repertoire to include researching the early predictors of adolescent delinquency, and exploring the varying conflict levels of identities.
“Without the support of scholarships I wouldn’t have much time for my research. I am beyond grateful to the donors for allowing me this opportunity,” said Yesenia, who has showcased her various research findings across the U.S., including the McNair Scholars Conference at the University of Maryland and at the University of California, Berkley.
After graduation, Yesenia plans on attending graduate school where she hopes to pursue research on violent school crime. She hopes to one day earn a Ph.D. in forensic psychology and work for the FBI.
