Sandra Wheat Burroughs

Sandra was in a graduate program for a certification in Special Education. She was a 1991 graduate of SUNY Oswego. She had worked in the events planning field and then with computer companies. She felt drawn to education, even though she had always said she would not follow in her father’s footsteps. She took a position at Canandaigua Academy as a teacher’s assistant and found her niche. She was an active member of the faculty. She started the class at Geneseo with the purpose of becoming a Special Education teacher. The students in the class became very close; they were mostly adult students with a very caring faculty. The students would meet or talk to prepare for projects. Sandra was 25 years old, married in 1994, and living in Farmington. Sandra and her husband were in a car accident where she died. The class was as inconsolable as we were. They came to the funeral and spoke for their love and care for Sandra and Philip. They invited us to the class and gave us a memory book of their friendship with Sandra, they gave us a recording of songs to help heal, AND they started the scholarship immediately. It was their gift to Sandra to acknowledge her.
To tell you about Sandra is a joy; she was our first daughter and was the leader of life. She was funny, sunny, caring and a great big sister to 4 siblings. The testimony to her lives in the lives of her college classmates who have adopted us so we have many “daughters and grandchildren” who enrich our lives. She is missed physically but is with us spiritually daily.
Our experience with Geneseo is based on that class, those dedicated teachers and following the college’s successes since then.
What we want the recipients to know is that they are important, that what they do in life matters; if our little scholarship helps them then we are pleased.
-as told by Sharon Wheat