The Roger and Phyllis Guess Hope Scholarship is a scholarship established by Shelley Guess, a Masters’ level graduate and current PhD student of B. H. Carroll Theological Seminary in the Counseling program. The scholarship, named in honor of Ms. Guess’s parents, was established to help Counseling students who need tuition assistance in order to complete their degrees.
According to Ms. Guess, her parents taught her the value of an education and also of hard work by allowing her to pay her own tuition for her Carroll Seminary classes. “I would ask for tuition money as my Christmas gift each year,” she recounts, as she would both work part-time and study part-time. “If it wasn’t for the generosity of others, I would not be here. My dad believed strongly in the Lord, he believed in me, and he believed in the work that counselors are doing every day. It is with that kind of humility I want to honor my parents.”
Ms. Guess, owner and practitioner at Hope Connects Counseling in Irving, Texas, acknowledges the growing need for counselors and the increasing numbers of individuals who feel called to this ministry. She is hopeful that this scholarship will create a way for the next generation of counselors to step into this space.