This scholarship helps students stay at Ohio State
The Steve and Diane Jones Scholarship is helping Buckeyes like Amy Torres and Alex Eichner address today’s pressing needs. The couple explain why that matters to them.
Jones Scholarship recipient Amy Torres (right) goes over a patient’s sinus rhythm chart with nurse Daisy Hedge. (Photo by Reena Sibayan)
About halfway through her time as an Ohio State undergraduate, Amy Torres ’24 began to wonder if she could continue attending the school or if she’d have to return home to New Jersey.
Torres, a neuroscience major, was proud to be the first person in her family to go to college, but out-of-state tuition and other costs were adding up, and the financial stress weighed on her. “I was on the brink of not finishing my education at Ohio State, which just felt discouraging because I was really enjoying my time there,” Torres says.
One day, during a lecture in her biochemistry class, Torres received an email that changed everything. “It said, ‘Congratulations, you got the Steve and Diane Jones Scholarship,’” says Torres, who couldn’t believe her eyes. Disbelief soon turned to elation. “I was beaming with joy,” she says.
The Steve and Diane Jones Endowed Scholarship Fund provides need-based scholarships for Ohio State undergraduates majoring in natural and mathematical sciences or those pursuing studies in speech pathology. Thanks to the Joneses—also strong supporters of the university’s Scarlet & Gray Advantage program, which aims to create an affordable pathway to a debt-free education—Torres’ financial burden was lifted. She could stay in Columbus and finish her degree at Ohio State.
The second Torres left her biochemistry class, she called her mom to relay the great news. “I’m very connected with the women in my family. Everything I do is for them. I come from a strong line of women who persevered through a lot,” says Torres, whose parents came to the United States from Ecuador.
Torres graduated last year and is back in New Jersey working as a nursing assistant for Penn Medicine Princeton Health while she studies for the MCAT. Drawing on her senior year experiences shadowing a gynecologist and working in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital behavioral unit, Torres plans to pursue her passion for mental health with a focus on women’s psychiatric health.
“If I didn’t get that scholarship, it would have changed the trajectory of my life,” Torres says. “Who knows where I would be now.”
Alex Eichner, another Jones Scholarship recipient, takes notes in his Foundations of Higher Mathematics class. (Photo by Jodi Miller)
Sophomore Alex Eichner’s love of computer science originated with an AP class at his high school outside of Toledo. He discovered he had a knack for programming, so he kept learning more on his own. “I really like the problem-solving aspect of it,” Eichner says. “When I have to program something, and I finally get it to work after hours and hours of debugging and writing code, it’s the most satisfying feeling. I can’t even describe it.”
During his first year at Ohio State, Eichner juggled a double major in math and computer science but struggled to balance his studies and the hours he spent working a front-desk job. This year is a different story. Like Torres, Eichner is a recipient of the Steve and Diane Jones Scholarship.
“It opened up a lot of time for me to focus more on studying and actually having a college experience,” he says. “Last year, I was either working or I was in the library. I didn’t have any time to do anything else. But this year, I have a lot more time to actually discover what I want to do with my life.”
Eichner hopes to start his own business after graduating. In fall 2023, he enrolled in Startup Midwest, the premier event for rising technology entrepreneurs from Ohio State’s Center for Software Innovation. He also recently interned with Book + Street, a Columbus company that provides financial services for startups. “I saw how hard the Book + Street clients worked to make their businesses successful. That was pretty eye-opening,” he says. “It’s not as easy as Mark Zuckerberg makes it look.”
In high school, Eichner and his friends founded a club that picked up roadside trash around the Toledo area. The experience made him realize how much plastic Americans use and discard. It’s an issue he hopes to address using the computer science skills he’s honing at Ohio State.
“I haven’t exactly figured out how I want to use technology to help with this issue,” he says. “But hopefully in the next three years I will.”
Why we give: Steve & Diane Jones
Steve ’72: “Ohio State is a land-grant university. I think that’s important. People saw the need to educate the entire country, not just the wealthy. The way to prosperity is through education. In that spirit, this is our way of helping to provide opportunity for all.”
Diane ’72: “Woody Hayes’ ‘pay forward’ commencement speech from 1986 touched us. We both have that propensity anyway, but that solidified it for us. We really try to live that way. Hopefully some of the scholarship students can pay forward, too.”
Steve: “We didn’t get to this point by ourselves. It’s because people helped us along the way. My experience at Ohio State opened the opportunity for me to do this, so we want to honor those who helped us by paying forward.”
Diane: “You’re planting seeds, and you don’t know which ones will grow, but you know some will.”
Steve: “We wanted to do something that would last. We’re not just here on Earth to have fun and consume. We’re here to make someone’s life a little better. If you’ve been blessed with the ability to do that, I think it’s an obligation.”
Illustrations by Michael Hoeweler
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The Ohio State University Fund for Scholarships supports students, building a brighter future for all.
