The Shannon E. Collins Foundation (SECF) committee chose Yobany Castro and Julieta Dominguez as the two recipients of the 2024-2025 Scholarship.  Both applicants were awarded $5,000 towards their 2024-2025 school year tuition. 

 

Five years ago, our colleague and friend, Shannon Collins lost her battle to Metastatic Breast Cancer. Her courage, strength, and resiliency during her 5-year journey was an inspiration to everyone around her. To honor her, the SECF was formed. The goal of the foundation is to keep Shannon’s legacy alive in our metal’s community and within the BL Duke family.  

“Shannon meant the world to me and all of us at BL Duke. It is an honor to speak with the scholarship winners on how special she was and the impact she made on all of our lives. Shannon was incredibly intelligent, driven, funny and caring. There will never be another like her. I can make BL Duke millions of dollars, but my greatest accomplishment both personally and professionally was bringing Shannon to BL Duke,” said Jim Schulte at the event.

2024-2025 SECF Winners 

The committee members were impressed with every applicant received and it was a challenging task choosing just two winners. Congratulations to all the applicants on their educational success.  

“Thank you for letting us get to know a little about you,” says Kaitlyn Evoy. “We sincerely hope all applicants choose to apply again in the future and wish them the best in their future endeavors.” 

 

 

Yobany Castro (left) will be starting a welding program at Morton College. Julieta Dominguez (right) will be studying at Loyola University and plans on going to medical school. 

 We can’t thank our committee members enough for helping us form and launch the SECF.  They include Kaitlyn Evoy, Shannon’s sister,  Jen DiSabato, cousin of Shannon, and lastly, Courtney Collins, Shannon’s sister-in-law. Together, they sorted through applications, discussed applicants, and chose the winners for the 2024 – 2025 scholarships.  

To learn more about eligibility for this scholarship, click here.  If you’re interested in applying for the 2025-2026 school year scholarship, please contact Kaitlyn Evoy at [email protected] for more information. 

 

 

The Shannon E. Collins Foundation was created to keep Shannon’s light shining within BL Duke. It will assist BL Duke families with the cost associated with private high school, trade school or a four-year university.  
The concept was originally created by Shannon who often discussed how to give back to the employees of BL Duke.  Little did they know the foundation would later be formed in Shannon’s honor.