Humanities Giving Spotlight:

Alumna Provides Support to Africentric Outreach Program

Virgene Smith Heckman, a 1948 alumna of the Department of English, has given a generous gift to the Center for the Study of Teaching and Writing (CSTW). Heckman is a retired vice president of the WL Heckman Company, a Columbus insurance agency started in 1947 by her late husband, Willard, (also an Ohio State alumnus).

Always interested in writing, Heckman began her college career by majoring in journalism, but decided to switch to a subject she truly loved, English. Today, she takes great delight in serving as editor of her resident association newsletter.

Heckman's gift is designated to CSTW's Africentric Elementary School Literacy Program where young students, mentored by Ohio State tutors, work after class to write and revise poetry, letters, and fiction and nonfiction stories. At an end-of-year ceremony, students receive a compilation of their work and read from their favorites.

Says Heckman, "This is a great program—it teaches something so useful. It is very satisfying to see young people get interested in writing." When asked why she feels it is important to give back, she explains that if one can, one has a responsibility, especially to the future. "My mother always told us that you pay back those who helped you by helping the next generation."

She describes her family as "multigenerational Buckeyes," her parents were Ohio State graduates as well as some of her children and grandchildren. Born in Columbus, but raised in Reading, Pennsylvania, Heckman always knew she would attend Ohio State, "In my family, some things were a certainty: when you were five you went to kindergarten, when you were six you went to first grade, and after high school, you went to OSU!"