Cornell freshman Samuel Ramsey of Temple Hills, Md., has loved bugs since he was 11 years old. He read every book on insects he could find at the library and dreamed of studying entomology at a top university.

Thanks in part to a scholarship fund that offsets tuition costs for minority students, Ramsey is just about to complete the first semester of that dream as a student in Cornell's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

"I'm really grateful," Ramsey said. "If not for these scholarships, I know I could not be at this school."

Ramsey was one of a handful of Jackie Robinson Foundation (JRF)/Sinclair Scholars who attended a Nov. 19 dinner with Keith Sinclair, who, along with his wife, Esther Sinclair, established the scholarship in 2003.

The generous couple has given more than $300,000 for scholarships to eligible minority students. The funds are matched 1-to-1 by the Jackie Robinson Foundation and by Cornell. The first class of JRF/Sinclair scholars graduated last year, and currently, the scholarship is supporting 16 students. The Sinclairs are also the parents of two Cornell alumni, Kevin '04 and Kelly '07.

Keith Sinclair visited Cornell along with his longtime friend, Bill Holland, vice president of human resources for Hilton Corp., who serves on the JRF board, to meet with the students over dinner at the Statler Hotel.

The students who attended had as diverse an array of interests as one would expect at Cornell. For example, Bryce Robertson '10 majors in government but ultimately aspires to be a cardiologist. On the side, Robertson also finds time to run a Web site design company, lowtechweb.com, and serves as the Class of 2010 webmaster.

"It is an honor to sit at a dinner table with people who are doing amazing things and impacting my life in ways I may not even see right now," Robertson said.

Keith Sinclair said he feels honored to spend time with the students he and his wife are helping.

"I feel like a proud surrogate parent getting to meet these kids," he said.