Sisters create scholarship honoring late mother, fellow Weber State alum
OGDEN, Utah — Weber State University graduate Kari Harbath and her sister, current student Kassie, created a scholarship fund in memory of their mother, WSU alum Paula “Kim” McCorkle-Harbath, to give back to the community that helped them through hardships.
Kim stood as a pillar of support for family and community. Now, her legacy will help other WSU students achieve their dreams.
Kim worked at Ogden Preparatory Academy, a tuition-free public charter school. She also volunteered for organizations like Grandfamilies, a Children’s Service Society program supporting families with a grandparent as a primary caregiver, and organized an annual meal for up to 1,200 low-income and unhoused people at Ogden’s Marshall White Center.
After feeling helpless when her father fell victim to financial fraud, Kim, at age 57, enrolled at Weber State to become an advocate for senior citizens. While working full-time at Ogden Prep, she earned her Bachelor of Integrated Studies degree in gerontology, sociology and women’s studies in 2016.
As a student, she shared her father’s story to advocate against the exploitation of senior citizens at the Utah State Capitol. In her final year at Weber, she won the Civically Engaged Student Award from WSU’s Center for Community Engaged Learning.
Tragically, Kim’s advocacy ended when she passed away in 2019. Her daughters created the Kim McCorkle-Harbath Memorial Scholarship fund in her memory five years ago.
“She was a great example of somebody who went to school at Weber and used her experience to make the Ogden community a better place,” Kari said. “She was always wearing her Weber hat, she was always talking about Weber, she knew everybody, she loved her professors.”
Kari, the first in the family to attend Weber State, graduated in marketing and public relations in 2015. Kassie currently studies exercise and sport science at WSU.
Their mother’s death happened along with a series of other hardships. Today, they are grateful for the opportunity to give back.
Strength through adversity
After her birth, Kari’s daughter, Sloan, was swiftly life-flighted from McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. She stayed there for two months and received a series of surgeries related to CHARGE syndrome, a rare condition affecting organ systems, and was diagnosed as both blind and deaf.
Early on, medical professionals painted a bleak outlook. “At first, it was hard,” Kari said. “There were days where things felt really hopeless.”
As Kari and her husband, Aaron, contacted medical experts and connected with WSU resources and the Utah School for the Deaf and the Blind, they realized Sloan could have a rich and rewarding future.
“She loves herself, she loves her school, she loves our community,” Kari said. “She’s an amazing little person and she’s going to grow up to be an amazing adult.”
When Sloan was 6 months old, Kim suddenly fell ill. 
“We got a call that she had aspirated in her sleep and unexpectedly died,” Kari said. “It was devastating, and it was something that I think we didn’t think we were going to survive.”
Soon after, the COVID-19 pandemic swept through the United States.
“We’re trying to protect Sloan, a highly, highly vulnerable human, and we’re all with throes of grief. Aaron was supporting all of us so intensely, and he was a wonderful, wonderful person throughout all of this,” Kari said.
In June 2020, Aaron unexpectedly died by suicide.
Life is about giving
Kassie spoke at Weber State’s 2021 commencement ceremony, sharing her family’s hardships and triumphs over them. “I could just feel the energy,” Kassie said. “It was a really powerful experience.”
Four years later, she lives a short walk from Kari and helps care for Sloan. Kassie’s exercise and sport science knowledge has helped the family to be more active and eat healthier. Kari works as senior author engagement manager at Pluralsight, which provides a platform for learning tech skills online.
Through hardships, they’ve both learned life isn’t about portraying a particular image to the world. It’s about making a difference.
“We could have taken this situation and just shut down and guarded ourselves from the world, but Kari and I really took it and said, ‘What can we do to make a change and make a difference?” Kassie said.
Before Kim passed away, Kassie told her she noticed hair scrunchies coming back in style. Kim sewed a handful that Kassie gifted to friends and donated to Primary Children’s Hospital NICU nurses who cared for Sloan and other babies.
After Kim’s death, the sisters sold scrunchies, using their mother’s sewing machine, to raise money. They named the operation Sloan’s Scrunchies and sold them at farmer’s markets and community events.
The money raised went to the scholarship fund, which still needs about $15,000 to become fully funded and available to students. Once funded, it will support students with a GPA of 2.0 or higher, with preference given to nontraditional students who, like Kim, demonstrate a commitment to service and are engaged in interdisciplinary studies.
Along with the scholarship, a bench outside Kaffe Mercantile on 26th Street in Ogden honors Kim, who often visited the coffeehouse for tea while completing homework.
Kari and Kassie hope that, like the bench, the scholarship will soon become a permanent reminder of Kim and her commitment to the Ogden community.
Jaime Winston, Marketing & Communications
jaimewinston@weber.edu- Contact:
Bryan Magaña, public relations director
801-626-7948, bryanmagana@weber.edu