
Jane Shanahan discovered through 7 years of family research that her mom, Santos, and her grandmother, Jesusita, were immigrants from Mexico. While neither her grandmother nor her mother was able to attend a college, they did believe in education. It was this discovery that spurred Jane into funding other immigrants to help them get an education. Jane created the Jesusita and Santos Courage and Fortitude Scholarships. She is proud to carry on their legacy both here and in Mexico. By creating these scholarships for Nebraska students, she honors these women. Jane’s collection of letters, photos, and documents telling her family’s story became a bilingual website with the help of the University of Nebraska’s Modern Language department and Center for Digital Research of the Humanities. You can view her collection and the story that it tells here: familyletters.unl.edu