Sibley Haamid IV, the son of a WFSE member, has been awarded one of twelve AFSCME Family Scholarships.
“When Sibley graduates from college, he wants to be a business owner,” said Sibley’s mother, Carla Cooper-Haamid, a Student Services Representative and WFSE Local 793 member.
“I’m proud of him,” she said.
Cooper-Haamid has every reason to be proud.
Sibley applied for the scholarship on his own and was selected out of hundreds of national applicants.
He will soon attend Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas, where he plans to major in graphic design and minor in business management.
“My son was a senior at Steilacoom High School, and unfortunately we did not have a lot of help with looking for scholarships,” said Cooper-Haamid.
“I knew WFSE offered many benefits and I decided to see if they offered scholarships—and they did. So I handed it over to my son and said, get busy.”
The ASFCME Family Scholarship Program offers $2,000 scholarships to graduating high school seniors that will be renewed for $2,000 each year for a maximum of four years.
Due to high financial need, this year the program awarded twelve scholarships instead of the usual ten.
The Cooper-Haamids were overjoyed to learn Sibley had won one of the scholarships.
“Sibley got the approval letter and came running in my room, saying, ‘Mom, I got the scholarship! Out of 200 kids, they only picked twelve, and I won!’ recalls Cooper-Haamid.
“He did it on his own,” she said.
In his scholarship essay, Sibley recalled the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on his family and friends—and the role our union played in helping to keep his mom safe.
Cooper-Haamid has health issues that would make COVID exposure especially dangerous for her.
“My mom told me her union had already went into protection mode for the employees at Western State Hospital,” Sibley wrote.
“She said, ‘God is so good, and [I am] blessed to have AFSCME for my union,’” he wrote.
Thanks to union solidarity, Cooper-Haamid was placed on remote work and their family was able to stay safe and healthy.
Sibley also enjoys long-distance running and building gaming computers as a hobby—he has built several computers younger kids who love gaming but did not have a computer of their own.
Like fair wages, healthcare, and retirement benefits, access to education is a fundamental need. As so many WFSE members know, many professions and roles today require advanced education—but the cost of college degrees continues to rise, leaving many young people deep in debt.
That’s why educational benefits are a main offering from AFSCME, from scholarships like the one Sibley won to the AFSCME Free College program.
“Winning this scholarship will be phenomenal for our family,” said Cooper-Haamid.
“We are going to do our best to pay for Sibley’s education on our own—we are trying to not get him any student loans. With out-of-state fees alone, the scholarship helps out a lot,” she said.
“The scholarship came right at the right time. It was a blessing for him and our family—just like Sibley is a blessing to me and his dad.”
Being a WFSE member means solidarity with nearly 47,000 public employees sticking up for our jobs, families, and communities—and it doesn’t stop there. With over 1.6 million members nationally, AFSCME brings even more benefits.
“At first, being part of a union, I was a little nervous,” said Cooper-Haamid.
“But now when I look at it, you have to join. It has so many great benefits, not only for you as an employee but for your family, like free education benefits for you and your family,” she said.
Cooper-Haamid encourages other public employees to look into the ASFCME Advantage.
“I was so surprised at the things our union offers and the support that they give back to the community,” she said.
“Who wouldn’t want to be involved with an entity that supports us, our families, and our community?”