She also warmed my children’s hearts in many ways. One day she noticed my son crying as he watched other children riding bicycles. Not long after that, she surprised him with his own bicycle that another family had donated. This act of generosity had a huge impact on my five-year-old son. When at seventeen he was ready for college, he easily chose OSU, saying, “After all, it’s the place where I first rode a bicycle.” It surprised me to know that after years away from Stillwater, he so clearly remembered the Regina, the mentor, and the community that helped us to thrive as a family. To this day, when people ask my son where he is from, he smiles and says, “Stillwater, Oklahoma.” Regina reminds us of our humanity and the importance of our collective empathy, friendship, and responsibility toward one another.

You see I came to OSU from my poor rural village in Zimbabwe poor, poor, timid and vulnerable but with ambition - an ambition for an education, and Regina became the fertile ground that nurtured, inspired, and enabled my growth in a foreign country."

-- Dr. Tererai Trent, OSU Alumna & Founder of The Tererai Trent International Foundation