A COOL $250K IN SCHOLARSHIPS
Tina Raheem reports:
“On Thursday May 10th, OFA’s Scholarship Selection Committee held its annual meeting in the offices of Casey Family Programs in downtown Washington DC.
“Nearly 200 applications were read and over $250,000 was awarded to close to 100 new Casey Family Scholars. These young people will join OFA’s approximately 300 returning students for the 2007-8 academic year.
“Colleagues who attended to spend the day reading scholarship applications included representatives from the National Association of Student Financial Aid Advisors, Covenant House Washington, the League of Dreams, the United Negro College Fund and the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships. OFA alumni Jenny Glover and Jonathan Braxton also participated.
“At the end of the day, Jenny commented, ‘I knew I was special for getting a Casey Family Scholarship, but I never realized just how special – it was wonderful to see so many people working so hard on our behalf to award appropriate scholarships.’
“Thank you to each of our application readers for a job well done!”
May 15th, 2007 at 9:31 am
Life is a journey filled with moments of gratitude and faith. I was given the opportunity to participate in the selection committee for OFA/Casey Family undergraduate scholarship. As a former undergraduate recipient and a current graduate recipient, it was a small way to give back to an organization that has done so much for me.
The selection process is a task far greater than I had imagined. To each individual who was awarded: you are blessed and your selection came after much heartfelt thought and faith. To be involved with this committee was bittersweet-the obvious downfall is that you can’t give everyone a scholarship and it is extremely difficult to determine who should be a recipient.
On the other hand, as a selection participant you have a unique opportunity to change the destiny for a particular student. At the end of the day, while walking down seven flights of stairs, I came to the realization that my appreciation for OFA/Casey Family has multiplied by an amount that I cannot describe in words. There were countless applicants who were chosen! After that day, I was inspired even more so to continually examine my personal character and to remember that you can attribute strength to the caring arms surrounding you.