The Amy Sorrells Caprio Scholarship Endowment

Months after Baltimore County police officer Amy Caprio ’10 was killed in 2018, her fellow officers Victoria Hawkins ’13 and the late Norris “Mac” McKee ’79 walked into the Administration Building at TU.

They didn’t know who they were going to see, but they knew why they were there.

“Not everybody has the opportunity to go to college,” Hawkins says. “That was not something that was guaranteed for Amy, but college was important to her. We wanted to give [that opportunity] back to someone else.”

The two walked past the office of Sarah Metzgar, TU’s director of major gifts.

“I said, ‘How can I help you?’” Metzgar recalls. “They said that they wanted to start a scholarship.”

The result of that chance encounter is The Amy Sorrells Caprio Scholarship Endowment. It is awarded to a full-time or part-time undergraduate or graduate student who is, or has been, a first responder (police, firefighter, emergency medical technician or paramedic) or has an immediate relative who has done so.

The endowment, which has more than $60,000, has awarded three $2,000 scholarships. Thomas Brewer ’94 is, to date, the largest individual donor to the fund.

 “I always wanted to be a police officer,” says Brewer, who worked with at-risk youth and for FEMA. “Her story just hit home for me.”

Jack Walsh ’24 is a recipient, as his brother, Thomas ’21, was. Their father, Raymond, is a former Howard County police officer who was forced to retire because of an on-the-job injury.

“We went to a dinner and met her parents and got to talk to them,” Jack says. “I know the story of what happened to her. That easily could have been my father. It could be anybody’s sibling. I was truly honored.”

Lyndsay Wilson ’22 was also a recipient. She graduated with a degree in economics and finance. Her father is a former Anne Arundel County officer who left the force after getting hurt on duty.

“After my dad was medically retired, he was out of a job for a while,” she says. “My first year of college I struggled with having to take out a lot of loans. So this scholarship helped tremendously.”

She started a job as a budget analyst with the U.S. Department of Defense in June. Now she’s working, she plans to donate to the fund that helped her.

Caprio, she says, was “such a brave person.”