Memorial scholarship to be available next fall
Fund for history majors honors victim of Boardwalk fire
Nancy Bingham, mother of Nicole Bingham, created a scholarship fund for history majors in honor of her daughter who died in the Boardwalk fire in 2005. The fund will be offered for the first time next fall.
By Erin Sommer
Monday, December 3rd, 2007
Nicole Bingham was a Wichita senior at the University of Kansas when she died on October 7, 2005, in a fire at the Boardwalk Apartment complex. Six days later, on what would have been her 22nd birthday, Nicole’s mother, Nancy Bingham, established the Nicole Bingham Memorial Scholarship Fund in her memory.
The scholarship will be offered to students for the first time next fall.
It is for history majors, and students who apply must have a GPA no higher than a 3.5, which Nancy said reflected Nicole’s coursework. The scholarship will be given on a need basis.
The scholarship will be offered for the first time next fall. Last month, the fund for the scholarship reached $30,000, which is the minimum requirement for an endowment fund. Nancy Bingham said that each year the scholarship would be awarded in the amount of interest that has grown from the $30,000. She said she expects this to be about $1,300 per year.
Nancy Bingham said that funds for the scholarship came from money that she had saved for the rest of Nicole’s education, friends and relatives of Nicole, and the Boeing Company, for which Nancy worked.
Lisa Scheller, senior editor of the KU Endowment Association, said that history majors would receive an e-mail during the spring semester with information about how they can apply for the scholarship.
Nancy Bingham said that she hoped the scholarship went to someone with interests similar to Nicole’s.
Nicole planned to work in museum management after graduation. Nancy said that Nicole was a very happy person and her friends were the most important part of her life.
Nicole had a congenital heart defect, and Nancy said she was very careful about her health because of it. Nancy said that because of her heart problems, there was a nine-percent chance that her heart could stop at any moment. Nicole told her that if anything happened, it was important to her that she have a large memorial for her friends. Nancy said that this scholarship partly fulfills that wish.
“She had been through a lot of things in her life. Really, a lot of trauma,” Nancy Bingham said. “She learned how to overcome them.”
Nancy Bingham said that she was grateful to the KU Endowment Association for its help with the scholarship fund.
“They dropped everything that they were doing so that they could put it together that day and let me sign on her birthday,” Nancy Bingham said.
Nicole was Nancy Bingham’s only child.
“She was the love of my life,” Nancy Bingham said.
Nicole was one of three people who died in the 2005 fire at the Boardwalk Apartment complex. Complex resident Jason Rose is reportedly serving a 10-year prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter, aggravated arson and aggravated battery.
— Edited by Kaitlyn Syring
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