Tyrone Adams '87 and Sandra D. Adams '86

Alumni Cross Off Bucket List Item With Scholarship
For Tyrone ’87 and Sandy Wyche ’86 Adams, establishing a scholarship at Frostburg was a way to show appreciation, give back to a place that gave them their starts and cross off an item from their collective bucket list. how Tyrone and I first met. We started dating a year and a half later.” The Adamses married in 1992 and now have a daughter, Shannon, who is a junior at Duke University. Both Tyrone and Sandy credit their experiences on the Frostburg campus with giving them the foundation they needed to build successful lives and careers. Tyrone previously worked with NASA on the relaunch of the Space Shuttle after the Challenger disaster and at Johns Hopkins in space science studies and has consulted for UPS and AT&T. He and Sandy created Anysolv Technologies, a small business enterprise specializing in data communication and service transportation systems that has worked on mass transit systems all over the country. Sandy serves as the director of publishing operations at the National Academies Press, where she oversees the editing, design, composition and production of 200 books annually for such organizations as the National Research Council, the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, among others. She earned a master’s in publication design from the University of Baltimore and is an adjunct faculty member at Loyola University Maryland. They agree that several “unique opportunities” at Frostburg paved the way for their creative and entrepreneurial spirit. Tyrone, who was president of the Black Student Alliance, recalls helping restore an old pipe organ in Old Main to learn the principles of physics, while Sandy, who interned in the FSU Office of Publications, was encouraged by her professors to study abroad and spent time in Plymouth, England. “The best part about mentors at Frostburg was that we did not have to seek them out. They sought us out.” Sandy said. “Truthfully, we did not have enough savvy to know we needed mentors. We are eternally thankful that they stepped up and played those crucial roles in our success.” Now the Adams family wants to provide that crucial role in the lives of current Frostburg students. The criteria mirror the history of Tyrone and Sandy, who still live in the Reisterstown area of Baltimore. Both had to rely on a combination of student loans and on-campus jobs to pay for college. They want to alleviate the pressure of finances so students can fully enjoy their college experiences. “Our hope is that the beneficiaries of this scholarship will be able to concentrate less on paying the bills and will instead take advantage of what the school has to offer,” Sandy added. “We pray that the recipient of this scholarship works hard and makes the most out of their Frostburg experience.” Like they did.