Dan Meyer fittingly owes the sudden upturn of his liquid assets to a prodigious beverage producer.

Meyer, a general studies major at Amarillo College, has been selected as a 2015 Coca-Cola Leaders of Promise Scholar and will receive a $1,000 scholarship to help defray his educational expenses.

Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Society administers the Leaders of Promise Scholarship Program, which is sponsored by the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation. The scholarship is designed to bolster the financial resources of new Phi Theta Kappa members while they are enrolled in two-year colleges. 

Meyer is one of only 207 scholars selected by a panel of independent judges from a worldwide applicant pool of more than 1,100. Applicants are evaluated on scholastic achievement, community service and leadership potential.

Meyer, a resident of Quitaque, Texas, and a 1986 graduate of Valley High School, obviously is not your traditional college student. In fact, one of his daughters is on track to graduate from AC this spring. Theirs is a busy family. Dan Meyer is a longtime volunteer for Kairos Prison Ministry International, which ministers to the incarcerated. He and his wife are veteran foster parents, and the Meyer family has been involved in mission trips to such far-away lands as South Africa, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and more.

“I was elated to learn of my selection for this honor,” Meyer said. “I am truly grateful for the generous monetary assistance that will allow me to focus less on my financial boundaries and more on my studies.”

Meyer’s post-high school journey began with two years in the U.S. Army, where he earned an Army Achievement Medal and several letters of commendation before opting out in pursuit of a life back on the family farm.

But farming is tough, and the Meyer brothers finally sold their farm at a time when Dan Meyer chose to launch his own construction business. But that particular work took its toll, too, and Meyer found himself making regular visits to a chiropractor, often enough, in fact, that he decided to become one himself.

Meyer, who is about halfway through his prerequisites at AC, expects once they are completed to transfer his credits to Texas Chiropractic College. Because of his preference for taking online classes – Quitaque is about 95 miles from Amarillo – he could have chosen almost any college to complete the classes he needs. He chose AC because it is close enough to home to be accessible should the need arise, and because of its unquestioned affordability.
    
“It’s a great school, where I’ve gotten to know a lot of terrific people,” Meyer said. “And the cost of attending AC is very affordable. You can’t really do better, cost-wise. It’s just my opinion, of course, but why would you want to pay more for exactly the same thing?”

November 19, 2015