Four students from the Twin Cities area are included in a list of over 400 students receiving 2022 scholarships from the Greater Worcester Community Foundation.
The scholarships are awarded to high school seniors who are going onto college. Fitchburg High School graduate Isa Jackymora received the Wallace D. and Dorothy M. Andrews Scholarship, Sizer School graduate Roman Roy was awarded the Leonard F. Leamy Scholarship, and Leominster High School graduates Lucas Gallo and Nora Swaine also received scholarships.
According to a press release it took 80 volunteers to comb through over 700 scholarship applications but by the end of the 2022 school year, 401 students received news they had been approved for a scholarship award. Worcester based GWCF gave out 439 awards in total this year through its scholarship program, a small piece of the $14.04 million total given to over 9,000 students since its inception in 1978.
The press release stated that the GWCF scholarship program is about paying it forward. Most scholarship recipients never meet the donors who start the funds, but their college aspirations are being met by those who believe in the future of Worcester County.
For instance, the William J. Short Scholarship for Future Business and Civic Leaders named after a man who led the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce for 25 years helped Jacob Vázquez, the first college graduate in his family, to attend Assumption University. His experience brought him full circle, as Vázquez is now the foundation’s scholarship philanthropy officer.
“The scholarship program isn’t just about giving money towards a college diploma, it’s about investing in the future of our city,” Vázquez said. “The hope is that many of these students stay in Central Massachusetts and improve their families lives, their communities, their hometowns, and the entire region.”
Recipients throughout Worcester County were selected through a highly competitive process on the basis of merit, financial need, and special criteria established by the individual funds as stated in the press release. New awardees hail from all over Greater Worcester County with 68% of them attending college across Massachusetts.
Jackymora is attending Northeastern University in Boston majoring in bioengineering and biochemistry and enjoys music and has a passion for saxophone. Roy played basketball and participated in cross country in high school and is now at Boston College majoring in mathematics.
Talia Smith, a Charles Hugo Community Service Awardee who graduated from the Massachusetts Academy of Math & Science, stated in the press release that she understands the value of paying it forward.
“I can see how what one person does greatly affects those around them, and I will do everything that I can to make my contributions generous and positive,” said Smith, who is majoring in biophysics at the University of Pennsylvania.
Lucas Gallo, a lover of basketball, soccer and football is studying Sports Management at Temple University. Nora Swaine, an editor for her high school newspaper and class of 2022 president at Leominster High School is studying Public Relations at Suffolk University.
College-bound high school seniors can be considered for multiple scholarship opportunities through the foundation’s single online application, with the next application cycle opening January 2023. For more information email Jacob Vázquez at jvazquez@greaterworcester.org or visit greaterworcester.org.
