MISSION
The Kim L. Ringler and Thomas A. Wurm Family Scholarship will be awarded to one graduating senior from both Avon Grove High School and Ridley High School who have an aspiring career focus on Business Administration/Non-Profit Management, Library Science, Art, Education, Computer Science/Software Engineering, and/or Music.
Kim Ringler would not have been able to attain her life’s goal, to provide community service through the Library Directorship, without a college education. Tom Wurm shared a similar sentiment. Upon reflection, Tom shared “I am reminded that as a High School student I personally did not look like a great college candidate on paper. I never would have been able to earn a scholarship to help with the bills. Fortunately, my mother was willing, eager, and able to provide what she could to help”. Both Tom and Kim’s lives were changed because they were able to earn college degrees. Both Kim and Tom want to give the same opportunity that was afforded to them to other students in their community.
The Kim L. Ringler and Thomas A. Wurm Family Scholarship Fund was created to help students attending Ridley High School and Avon Grove High School with potential and a financial need earn a college degree and attain their goals for a successful career and life as Kim and Tom did.
ABOUT
About Kim: Kim
became the director of the Avon Grove Library in 1992. Her primary strategy was to build the patron base by developing robust children’s programming and creating a community technology center.
During Kim’s years serving as the library director, the library went through a dramatic growth period which required a move from the old library at 11 Exchange Place to a new location at 117 Rosehill Avenue, West Grove, Pa. Kim, with the support of the library staff, Board of Trustees, and volunteers, managed the library through all of this change.
Kim’s 22 years of service was characterized more as a commitment to community service than a career or job. She never faltered in her personal best effort, always “for the library.” She resigned her position as Director in September 2014, not out of a desire to retire but due to health issues. Sadly, Kim passed away on December 22, 2016.
About Tom: Tom’s family was not college-educated. His father had a high school diploma from Ridley South High School, and his mother did not have the opportunity to finish high school due to family responsibilities. She attended night school when Tom was a small child, learning typing, shorthand, and other office skills, eventually becoming an executive secretary. She was the driving force for him to attend college and helped him with the bills. Without her financial support, he did not think he would have been able to attend college. His father understood the opportunities and doors that a college education would open for him in the future.
Tom grew up in Milmont Park, PA, and graduated from Ridley High School in 1972. He was a member of the soccer team at Ridley North Junior High School and Ridley High School. He was not much of a student in high school. After graduation, he attended Delaware County Community College for one year and then transferred to Shippensburg State College, earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a major in Accounting and Economics in 1976. Shortly after graduation, he obtained a position as a Cost Accountant at a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Valley Forge. He met Kim at Shippensburg, and they were married shortly after she graduated in December of 1977. They welcomed their first child, Erica, in 1978. Tom started an MBA program at Widener University, attending in the evening after work, and received his MBA in December of 1979. Shortly after earning the MBA, he made a career change to software development and stayed in the information technology field as an employee of Hewlett-Packard (1981-2001) and an independent SAP technical consultant (2001 – 2016) until he retired in 2016. Their other two children, Thomas and Timothy, were born in 1981 and 1987 respectively.
About the family: Kim was the family’s public face to the community, while the rest of them were in the background trying to help when called upon. Over the years, the library was a regular topic of many lively discussions at the dinner table. They were very lucky that their family grew up with the library being a significant part of their everyday lives. Tom had abundant proof through the years that their children’s lives greatly benefitted from their connections with the library.
DONATE
or
Send a check made payable to:
Kim L. Ringler and Thomas A. Wurm Family Scholarship Fund c/o CCCF
28 West Market Street,
West Chester, PA 19382