Two Central Neighborhood students won $1,000 college scholarships from the Carson Scholars Fund. Kena-Joli White, grade 8, from Marion-Sterling School and Mariah Wells, grade 6, from George Washington Carver School and their families recently attended the awards banquet in Pittsburgh and received medals for their great work and the schools each received a trophy.
The girls were among the 402 new scholars awarded Carson scholarships this year, in addition 730 repeat scholars for maintaining a commitment to their schoolwork and communities. In total, 1,132 student role models from across the country are being named Carson Scholars this year.
The program awards students who strive for academic excellence – with a grade point average of at least 3.75 - and demonstrate a strong commitment to their communities with $1,000 college scholarships.
As part of the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland 15th anniversary, a grant of $5,000 was provided to the Carson Scholars Fund to create the opportunity for Cleveland Central Promise Neighborhood students to vie for a 2012 Carson Scholarship. Funding from the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland created the opportunity for educators to nominate 4th through 8th grade students each from Marion-Sterling and George Washington Carver.
Next year, students from Carl & Louis Stokes Central Academy will vie for a Carson college scholarship.
“Scholarships like those we are funding through the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland remove a barrier and provide an incentive for young students to strive for the lifetime of rewards gained through reading and higher learning,” said Geoffrey Mearns, chair of the board of directors for the foundation, and provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Cleveland State University.
Carson Scholarships are invested in a trust until recipients attend a four-year college or university. To date, the Carson Scholarship Fund has awarded more than 4,800 scholarships in 42 states.
“The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland’s funding of the scholarships opens another door to show Central’s children how to dream and connect those dreams to a love of learning,” said Susanna Krey, president of the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland.
“Increasing the quality of education is fundamental to the foundation’s mission to improve the lives of those most in need. This mission is as relevant today as 15 years ago when the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine established grantmaking foundations. We continue to have a singular focus on systemically addressing the root causes of poverty.”
Among other initiatives, the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland is the lead applicant on behalf of many partners for a federal Department of Education (DOE) grant to implement in the Central Neighborhood a Promise Neighborhood—a transformative program that wraps children in high-quality, coordinated health, social, community and educational support from the cradle to college and career.
The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland, established in 1996, is a ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System. Sixty percent of its assets involved St. Vincent Charity Hospital and 40 percent from the Saint Ann Foundation – the nation’s first healthcare conversion foundation. Saint Ann, founded in 1973, merged with the Sisters of Charity in 2006. The foundation’s mission is to address the root causes of poverty in health, education and housing. Supported by our sponsors, the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine, the foundation also supports ministries of women religious.
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