Lindsey Wilson University creates a scholarship for first responders seeking career change – WBKO
ADAIR COUNTY, Ky. (WBKO) – A new scholarship program at Lindsey Wilson University will help first responders transition to new careers after facing traumatic situations that often lead to early retirement.
Hannah Coyt, a counselor and professor with over 26 years of experience, and the wife of a law enforcement officer, has witnessed the struggles that first responders face.
“The suicide rate is extremely high for these folks. They are running into buildings that other people are running out of. They see a lot of things, sometimes several events in one day that many of us would go a lifetime without experiencing,” Coyt said.
She says the constant demand of the job often leads to early retirement.
“Sometimes they’ll go back into the profession in a different, you know, caveat of that, but what I know about serving with all of these officers at the post-critical incident seminar is many of them want to do something a little bit different. That’s a pretty demanding career to have, but they still want to help,” Coyt said.
Coyt and Lindsey Wilson University professor Keeley Stewart, who is married to a firefighter, created the scholarship for first responders.
“What the scholarship is, it’s up to a 20% scholarship for first responders and their immediate families, so spouses or children,” she said.
Coyt said her passion and hope for the scholarship is that first responders will see it as not only a way into a second career but also a way to help them create purpose after retirement.
“We all need purpose, and I think sometimes when you are helping people at that level as a first responder and you go into something else, it just doesn’t have the same, you kind of lose a little bit of that, and so, my hope is that they can find that purpose,” Coyt said. “I would love it if this is part of reducing that rate of suicide and that rate of hopelessness that some of them come into and feel like they don’t have anybody to reach out to.”
Coyt and Stewart will be advisors for scholarship participants. The scholarship will be available starting with the Spring 2026 semester.
If you would like to apply you can contact Lindsey Wilson director of financial aid Audrey Price at pricea@lindsey.edu or 270-384-8021.
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