Sherrill Richarz devoted a lifetime to children and teaching hundreds of students early childhood development skills. Richarz retired, after 25 years of teaching, from the Department of Human Development at WSU in 1995. She continues to be active in her profession, working with Head Start, the International Early Childhood Organization, and child care groups to improve the quality of services to children, especially through teacher preparation and training. She is also an emeritus professor in the Department of Human Development at WSU. Richarz has also immersed herself in making children’s play costumes. It has always been her belief that creative drama experience and make-believe play were often limited by the lack of props, which initiated her campaign to make costumes that would open the minds of children and challenge their imaginations. Richarz has made over 300 costumes, which she gives to child care centers and preschools as gifts. Since so many people wanted to pay for her costumes, she decided to establish a scholarship fund that would allow more students to pursue a degree in early childhood development. In 1997, the Sherrill Richarz Scholarship in Human Development was created.
Award Requirements
Annually a scholarship shall be awarded to a student based on the following: preference should be shown to male students, preferably to students of color, minimum 3.0 g.p.a. (no preference on grades), junior or senior standing, emphasis of study should be in Early Childhood Development. At the point the fund reaches $25,000 the spendable income shall be awarded to a student not below the amount of $500.