Event marks milestone in history of Evans Scholars Program at Kansas

LAWRENCE, Kans. — The Evans Scholars Foundation and the University of Kansas celebrated the opening of the completely rebuilt Evans Scholarship House at Kansas with a dedication ceremony on Sunday, May 4.

Kansas Evans Scholars and their families joined leaders of the Western Golf Association and the university, as well as Evans Scholars Alumni and other Program supporters for the special event at the new site, at 1314 Jayhawk Blvd. in Lawrence.

The 13,000-square-foot Scholarship House, which is in a prime campus location near the KU Memorial Union, features three levels of space for studying and recreation. In addition to featuring a state-of-the-art living and learning environment, the facility has the capacity to house 53 Scholars.

“This Scholarship House represents a tremendous opportunity, not only for the Evans Scholars attending Kansas this year, but for generations of promising caddies to come,” said Brian Shell, Senior VP of Education for the Western Golf Association and Evans Scholars Foundation. “Fifty years after the dedication of the first Kansas Scholarship House, we’re honored to help keep Chick’s dream alive for a new generation of students as we celebrate this milestone.”

“Community living is what makes all the difference and what sets the Evans Scholas Program apart from other scholarship programs,” said WGA Chairman Steve Colnitis. “This day marks the beginning of the next bright chapter for the Evans Scholars at Kansas. The House will extend a wonderful tradition of excellence on campus – nearly 200 young men and women have graduated from Kansas as Evans Scholars, becoming leaders in their careers and in their communities.”

The Program has sent Evans Scholars to Kansas as far back as the 1950s. In 1975, with program founder Chick Evans, Jr. in attendance, the first Kansas Evans Scholarship House was dedicated. In the following decades, the Program’s presence at the university decreased before leaders re-committed to sending students to Kansas within the last decade.

In 2017, students lived in Oliver Hall before moving to their first independent space a year later, to a Scholarship House at 1301 Louisiana St., next door to the new House, longtime Evans Scholar Advisor Lauren Cunningham recounted at the event.

“From the fall of 2018 to the spring of 2024, that house became the launchpad for our chapter’s growth and identity,” said Cunningham, who also serves as the communications director for the KU School of Business. “This new house is more than bricks and mortar. It’s a reflection of the Evans Scholars’ core values — excellence, respect, leadership and community. This house has elevated the visibility of the KU Evans Scholars. Scholars have told us that this new space motivates them to be better, both as Evans Scholars and as members of the KU community.”

Other event speakers included Nick Stevens, VP of Enrollment Management with the university, Evans Scholars Alumni Association leader Mark Coghlin and Kansas Chapter President Nicholas Van Laarhoven.

“This House means more to us than a place to live,” Van Laarhoven said. “It gives us a space for friendships to grow, goals to be shared and to develop ourselves as future leaders. Living here has brought us closer together as a chapter, and we have strengthened the sense of unity and purpose that defines this program.”

The new Scholarship House is part of an ongoing effort to expand the Evans Scholars Program from coast to coast and award more Evans Scholarships to deserving caddies. Later this year, Program leaders will also dedicate a new Scholarship House at the University of Maryland and welcome inaugural classes of Evans Scholars at the University of Delaware and the University of South Carolina.