Although they came from different backgrounds, three women began their college careers with the same important attribute: the determination to pursue a degree while juggling the demands of single parenthood.
Amanda Hampton became a single mom of two daughters after her husband Jesse died by suicide in 2020, while LaVern Crump has seven children, ranging in age from 12 to 32. Mercedes Lopez also is raising her 7-year-old son alone.
Besides persistence and single motherhood, the trio has something else in common. They recently received scholarships from the Oklahoma Single Parent Scholarship Program. The nonprofit program, which began in 2016, provides funding for single parents to help pay for school or life essentials like food, housing and childcare.
“My life was completely shattered and it’s taken five years to get to where I’m at,” Hampton said of her life in the aftermath of her spouse’s death.
She said the funds from the scholarship program allowed her to focus more on her two daughters Alli, now 21, and Bentlie, now 13. The program’s mentorship component has also played a key part in her success thus far and she said she’s sure the mentors have been a great help to other scholarship recipients, too.
“The mentorship is my favorite part of the whole thing ā it opened so many doors for me,” she said.
“I just love this program.”
Julie Leclercq, executive director of the Oklahoma Single Parent Scholarship Program, said 48 scholarships, each amounting to $1,200, were given out for the fall 2025 college semester. She said $400,000 in scholarships has been given since the program was started.
Scholarship recipients like Hampton, Lopez and Crump recently participated in a special ceremony in the Connor Center at Our Lady’s Cathedral. Leclercq said the scholarships were given to students pursuing degrees in five counties and include colleges and universities like Rose State, Oklahoma City Community College, University of Central Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City, Southern Nazarene University, Francis Tuttle Vo-Tech, Langston University and Mid-America Christian University.
Leclercq said the program was founded when Ellen Ingram, one of the organization’s co-founders, moved to Oklahoma and decided to begin a single parent scholarship program similar to one in Arkansas.
“All over the country there are single parents seeking an education,” she said. “In Oklahoma, almost 30% of parents are single parents.”
Ingram said the program she helped found is doing what it was designed to do.
“We provide the flexible financial support at $1,200 each semester, plus we provide a support system for students,” she said.
Ingram is one of the mentors who make up the support system she mentioned. She has served as Hampton’s mentor and she said she’s proud of her mentee who will soon graduate with honors from SNU with a degree in family studies.
“Each of our recipients is paired with a volunteer, oftentimes in a student’s major when possible and that person is there to encourage the student and to be there if the student just needs some advice,” Ingram said.
“It’s an amazing evolution. It’s so rewarding to be part of their struggles because it is so challenging in the first place to be a single parent. Seeing how much they accomplish is just inspiring.”
Both Leclercq and Ingram said one of their favorite aspects of their annual scholarship award ceremony was seeing all the recipients’ family members help celebrate their loved ones’ successes.
Mercedes Lopez’s son Rafael attended the event with her, watching as his mother received her award certificate and answered questions for a short video being produced about the scholarship program.
Lopez, 29, said she decided to pursue a college degree in human resources management at the University of Central Oklahoma because she wanted a career that would be fulfilling and help support her and her son.
“I realized after working retail or fast food jobs that I needed something else,” she said.
Crump said she was inspired to go to Oklahoma State University-OKC to pursue a degree in drug and alcohol counseling after her brother became addicted to drugs and died from a drug overdose.
“I’m really passionate about it and I want to be able to help others,” she said.
Crump said she would ultimately like to open up a home for teenage mothers because she was once a teen mom.
“I had to drop out of school because I had a baby,” she said.
Her decision to go to college also was inspired by her desire to show her youngest child, daughter Teziah, that it is never to late to pursue your dreams.
“The scholarship helped me because now I’m able to do a few things with my daughter, and just showing her that it’s never to late to go back to school,” Crump said.
Teziah and Crump’s mother Betty Newby attended the award ceremony to cheer Crump on.
“I’m proud of her,” Newby said of her daughter. “It’s never too late.”
Hampton’s two daughters and her mother, Carla LaPoma, were on hand, as well.
“She inspires me,” LaPoma said of her daughter.
Hampton’s daughters said they were proud of their mom.
Hampton smiled as she heard her family members’ compliments.
“When your kids brag about you, it’s the best part,” she said.
“I love having my kids see that I’m being recognized ā it’s a big deal. Moms don’t get recognized sometimes.”
The Oklahoma Single Parent Scholarship Program accepts donations to help ensure the nonprofit may continue to offer scholarships for single parents. Volunteers are also welcome. The organization’s annual “Reach for the Stars” fundraiser is set for 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 11 at St. Luke’s Methodist Church, 222 NW 15. Keynote speaker will be investigative journalist and author Rachel Louise Snyder. For more information, go to https://www.okspsp.org/.
