May 21, 2004

Note: Members of the news media may attend the awards reception, which will be held on Wed., June 9, at 6 p.m., Maggiano's Little Italy, 205 North Park Center, Dallas

(Dallas) - Most Americans have seen war on television; Djurdjijana Bura has lived it.

The Lake Highlands High School student, who was forced from her home in Croatia and who resettled with her family in Serbia and then the United States, left behind her grandmother - crying as her children and grandchildren departed - and a brother who was killed fighting in a bloody civil war. In spite of several relocations, immigration and language barriers, Bura's determination to obtain an education and to make life better and safer for others is obvious to her American teachers and friends.

As a result, the Dallas County Community College District and the Erin Tierney Kramp Encouragement Foundation will honor Djurdjijana Bura on Wed., June 9, during a special ceremony as she receives the 2004 Erin Tierney Kramp Encouragement Scholarship Award. The 6 p.m. award ceremony will be hosted by the Erin Tierney Kramp Encouragement Foundation's board of directors at a local Dallas restaurant. Dr. Jesus "Jess" Carreon, DCCCD chancellor, and Robert L. Thornton III, chairman of the DCCCD Foundation board of directors, will attend.

The scholarship will help Bura continue to reach for her dreams with financial support provided by the Erin Tierney Kramp Encouragement scholarship award. She will receive a $700-per-semester scholarship (up to a maximum of $2,800). Bura, who will attend Richland College, wants eventually to study electrical engineering or medicine.

The scholarship recipient's courage and perseverance in the face of adversity are traits exhibited by the person for whom the award is named. Erin Tierney Kramp, who fought breast cancer from 1994 to 1998 (when she lost that battle), created a videotaped legacy on "life lessons" for her young daughter that would convey Erin's views and advice to Peyton as the young girl grew up, following her mother's death. Erin touched many lives and inspired countless strangers when she co-authored Living with the End in Mind (with her husband and a family friend) and through appearances on programs like 20/20 and the Oprah Winfrey Show. Her legacy lives on through the Kramp Foundation, the DCCCD scholarship program and the lives of all recipients.

"The Erin Tierney Kramp program awards scholarships to students based on their courage and perseverance in the face of adversity," said Betheny Reid, executive director of the DCCCD Foundation. "We truly see these qualities in Djurdjijana, who bravely survived dangerous circumstances that she faced daily in her native country and who had to adjust quickly to her new life in the United States. Her story exemplifies what our past recipients have demonstrated repeatedly through Erin's legacy: we should celebrate life's goodness, regardless of adversity. Djurdjijana truly deserves this honor."

In her essay for the Kramp Scholarship competition, Bura recalled the trials and sadness of living through war. Djurdjijana (pronounced "Georgeann") said, "Basically, I don't know what it is like to be a child….I've come from an interesting background where everything is (a) competition and (you) fight, even for your life." When war started in her small Croatian village, where she knew everyone, Bura said, "Everybody went in (a) different direction, not knowing the way….When I left my home, I was nine and really thought, 'I'm going to come back.'" Thinking that she might be hugging her grandmother for the last time, Bura didn't want to leave, even though the family's matriarch said she didn't want to die anywhere else except where she was born.

Bura and her family escaped to Serbia - a five-day journey - and she knew then that she did not want to move from country to country for the rest of her life. "After seeing so much blood and distraction, who would go back to that place where poison grows," she asked. Although she eventually returned to Croatia four years later, Bura didn't like the changes she found, and war eventually broke out again in 1999. After seeing war first-hand and experiencing the bombings, her family decided to immigrate to the United States in fall 2000. Her English is improving, and Bura is taking a full load of academically challenging classes, including AP courses. She graduates this May.

"I'm grateful that I'm here in America, where maybe not everything is wonderful, but at least it's the best home I've ever had…without thinking about my safety constantly," said Bura. She believes that the U.S. gives people the chance to dream and to work toward those dreams. "I like this system because this system believes in us," she says.

High school and college students like Bura are invited to apply for an Erin Tierney Kramp Encouragement Scholarship award from the DCCCD Foundation. Eligible applicants include high school seniors who graduate each spring, as well as current DCCCD students. High school students who are recipients of the Kramp award will receive $700 per semester, for a possible total of four semesters and $2,800. Community college students who receive the award and who maintain program requirements will receive $700 per semester for the remaining semesters of the two-year program. Recipients must attend one of DCCCD's seven Dallas County campuses.

The Erin Tierney Kramp Encouragement Foundation was established in 1997 by the Dallas/Fort Worth Private Equity Forum and was named in Kramp's honor; it established a permanent scholarship endowment with the DCCCD Foundation in 1999. For more information, contact Kathye Hammontree at 214.860.2053.