Anne Arundel couple funds $40,000 scholarship for Glen Burnie High graduates

Glen Burnie High students who want to attend McDaniel College can now apply for a $40,000 annual scholarship, officials from the school and the college announced this morning during a surprise assembly.

An Anne Arundel County couple with ties to Glen Burnie and McDaniel — lawyer and lobbyist Bryson Popham and social worker Carol Popham — donated $500,000 to create the scholarship fund, and the college matched it. They met more than 50 years ago during freshman orientation week at McDaniel, which was then called Western Maryland College.

“When you leave home and go to a residential college, it should become a different kind of home,” said Bryson Popham. “It was for both of us.”

Scholarship funds will be available for up to four graduates each year starting and will cover more than half the cost of tuition, room and board. The private liberal arts college in Westminster charges annual tuition of $56,500. Housing and food run another $15,100 for first-year students on the campus of about 1,600 undergraduates.

To qualify, scholarship applicants must plan to pursue degrees in criminal justice, education, health sciences, nursing, psychology, social work or sociology. Recipients will be selected by admissions staff at McDaniel.

Glen Burnie High Principal Kevin Carr said this is the only external college scholarship available exclusively to his students. Glen Burnie High’s graduation rate shot up nearly 7 percentage points last year — a leap bigger than that of any other Anne Arundel County school or large comprehensive high school in Maryland.

“I’m incredibly grateful and honored that they picked Glen Burnie High School,” Carr said.

Bryson Popham grew up in Glen Burnie a few blocks away from the high school, although he attended a private, all-boys school instead, he said. Carol Popham lived in New Jersey before attending McDaniel. She now works for the Anne Arundel County Department of Social Services.

“I graduated from Western Maryland with a degree in social work,” Carol Popham said. “This scholarship will support students who share that same goal of service for others.”

The Pophams’ gift comes two years after they created a smaller scholarship for Glen Burnie students studying education at McDaniel. That award was created to honor Bryson’s mother, Mildred, who taught fourth grade in the county.

Janelle Holmboe, executive vice president of constituent engagement at McDaniel, said the scholarships will make it easier for students to attend the college, which costs more than Maryland’s public colleges and universities.

“We still know that a bachelor’s degree is the best investment you can make in yourself,” Holmboe said.