MBA student earns $10,000 scholarship for scholastic achievement

By Jessica Sinn
University News Service
September 11, 2007

Lajuanie, of Lafayette, La., is among 15 of this year’s Texas Business Hall of Fame scholarship winners.  Recognized for their entrepreneurial spirit and scholastic accomplishments, scholarship winners will receive $10,000 to apply toward their work on masters degrees in business administration. 

Lajuanie said the scholarship boosts her to ambition to pursue a current project, a web site for women.   She said the web site is designed to create a community for women, and to help them search for physicians.  In collaboration with a Texas State professor and fellow graduate student, she said they plan to launch the web site May 2008.   

“Part of the application process involved describing an entrepreneurial endeavor that you were interested in,” Lajuanie said.  “Receiving this scholarship encourages me to continue pursuing that project.”

Scholarship applicants must be nominated by the dean of their MBA school, and are required to have a 3.5 grade point average or higher. 

“Just being nominated for the scholarship took me by surprise,” Lajuanie said.  “I was shocked when I found out that I had been selected for the scholarship.  My undergraduate degree is in nursing, so the business field has been a new experience for me.  It’s hard to change career paths, but when something like this happens it really reinforces your decision to change.”

Before entering graduate school, Lajuanie said she was advised to decide on a career path.  Although this method may work for some students, she said it’s best to see what opportunities may arise after graduation. 

“I’m looking for something that is challenging and exciting, and allows me to be at home with my husband and son in the evenings and on weekends,” Lajuanie said.  “Other than that, the future is wide open.”