The Woman’s Club of Lawrenceville is continuing the club’s long tradition of supporting young girls in Lawrence Township by awarding a scholarship for one to go to college.
The club announced that the scholarship committee is seeking applicants for the Mary Darwin Heath Memorial Scholarship Fund, which began in 1938. Completed applications and official transcripts must be submitted by April 16.
“Once the young girl receives the scholarship, they get it as long as they are in school. They get $2,000 per year for four years. So it is $8,000 a girl,” said Dawn Monsport, a club scholarship committee member.
The scholarship is awarded to a young woman who is a high school senior and resident of Lawrence Township. The idea for the scholarship came from Heath, a faculty wife at The Lawrenceville School, who proposed the idea to the Woman’s Club in an effort to help a local girl who could not afford to go to college.
“This scholarship is very satisfying for me,” Monsport said. “We are reaching out to some girls that would not go out to college without having our scholarship. We had one recipient write us a letter saying she was able to take a course abroad because of the scholarship.”
She said the funds for the scholarship are raised internally. The club consists of about 100 women, ranging between 30 to 90.
“There have been a couple years we have been fortunate enough to have the funds to send two girls to college. But for the most part we award the scholarship to one young woman,” Monsport said.
For more than 79 years the scholarship has helped 47 young women from Lawrence Township. Originally the awarded scholarship was given to one or more students every four years, and have supported them through all four years of college.
Things changed in 2013, when the club started to award the scholarship every year. Most of the money raised for the scholarship is during the December Woman’s Club Holiday Fundraiser.
The awarded money helps the winner pay annually toward tuition fees at the college or university of the winner’s choice. For the young women who apply, academic standing, financial need and character are taken into consideration by the scholarship committee. A personal interview will also be required.
“The interview is the biggest part of the selection process. We interview each girl for about 30 minutes. We take everything into consideration, but we lean heaviest on financial need,” Monsport said.
The winner is announced by May 22.
According to the club, the scholarship is currently aiding six Lawrence Township young women: Mariefred Evans at Loyola University Maryland; Tahesia Reid at Stockton University; Isabella Perretti at George Mason University; Maya Eastmond and Natalia Ziemlinski, who both go to Rider University; Skylar Guadagno at Rutgers University.
Applications for the scholarship are available in the guidance offices of Lawrence High School, The Lawrenceville School and Notre Dame High School. They are also available from Dawn Monsport.
For more information, contact Dawn Monsport at 609-462-8333 or dawnmonsport@verizon.net.
