Tim and Amy Hardin might not have any kids to call their own, but thanks to a generous gift, future generations of children will remember the Hardins’ impact.

Through their estate, the Hardins have made a historic investment, establishing the Tim and Amy Hardin Endowed Scholarship in Early Childhood Education with the largest gift in program history.

“Education doesn’t get enough funding, and teachers don’t make a lot of money,” Tim said. “We decided that we could make a change, and this estate gift will hopefully help people for generations and help kids grow forever.”

In April, Oklahoma State University hosted members of its Heritage Society on campus for its annual celebration. The group consists of alumni and friends who, like the Hardins, have made a commitment to OSU through a will, revocable living trust, life insurance, life-income gift, retirement account or other deferred gift arrangement.

The Heritage Society’s more than 2,000 members have documented a combined $71 million in gifts to the university.

“The generosity of our Heritage Society members serves as an inspiration to the rest of the Cowboy family,” OSU Foundation President Blaire Atkinson said. “They represent The Code Calls by rallying together to invest in the future of OSU and the next generation. Their impact can be seen across every corner of campus and has changed countless lives forever.”

At the event, donors toured multiple spaces within the College of Education and Human Sciences, including the Cleo L. Craig Child Development Lab — the place where the Hardins have chosen to leave their legacy.

In 2006, the Hardins moved to Stillwater, with Tim accepting a job as an engineering professor at OSU and Amy joining Stillwater Medical Center as a pediatrician.

It was a new specialty for Amy. She began to view families from a child-development lens, and every day, she witnessed how difficult raising children could be.

She frequently encountered families who couldn’t afford the medications she prescribed for their kids, or the bike helmets she recommended. Childcare was difficult to find, and the few options that were good and affordable often had lengthy waitlists. When parents were always focused on making ends meet, it was easy to forget about the little things that go into setting a child up for success, she said.

“Families with young children face a lot of uphill battles,” Amy said. “Anything you can do to help a child develop while they’re young helps break that generational struggle. If you wait until high school to try to save them from drowning, it’s a lot more difficult than if you just teach them to swim earlier upstream.”

The Early Childhood Education program is doing its part to ensure kids get off to a running start. The CDL offers innovative educational programming for children ages 1-5 while also providing OSU students with real-world, hands-on learning experiences that will prepare them to lead and shape young minds.

The program not only benefits the kids at CDL, but also helps supply communities across Oklahoma with much-needed teachers and caregivers. Its students are passionate about what they do, giving each kid all the encouragement and support they need.

The Hardin Scholarship will ensure those students have less financial burden to overcome, so they can put their full hearts into our youth.

“I’ve become a firm believer that you have to intervene early, and it takes a special kind of person to do that,” Amy said. “Teachers are the people who will influence the next generation of citizens.

“The students here have a calling to pour themselves into these children. So, somebody needs to pour into them, too.”

Photos by: Bryanna Freer

Story by: Grant Ramirez | STATE Magazine