Scholarships highlight year for Quaker Foundation

The Quaker Foundation has piled up a record of service to education in New Philadelphia. This year the foundation has awarded 102 college scholarships to New Philadelphia High School graduates for 2021.

Scholarships totaled nearly $200,000, a leap from those handed out in the first year, 1994, totaling just $2,000. Scholarship amounts for 2021 varied from $1,000-$10,000, and recipients represented just under half of all graduating seniors from NPHS this year. The three-hour award ceremony was held May 7 at the Kent State University Tuscarawas Performing Arts Center.

Over the years the Quaker Foundation has awarded scholarships totaling $2,177,530 to 1,323 students.

“Normally, we have a big sit-down event,” Quaker Foundation board member Jan McInturf said. “But last year we had to cancel the live event due to COVID-19.”

This year’s event was held at the PAC with careful attention to spacing people out, a necessity due to the large number of students gathered along with their families. The ceremony was previously held at Union Country Club until space limitations forced a search for a new venue.

The Quaker Foundation also honors New Philadelphia alumni who have gone on to significant accomplishments, but those honorees will wait it out in 2021, as in 2020, due to travel restrictions and general difficulties with bringing people together from distant locations as the effects of the pandemic linger.

“We have them chosen, but we will wait until next year to make that announcement and give them the kind of recognition they deserve,” McInturf said, noting the selection process for the Alumni of the Year tends to be more difficult than for annual scholarships. “People tend to be humble, and we really have to do some research to find people who have done great things.”

Quaker Foundation President Trent Troyer gave the example of previous honoree Ted Swaldo, a graduate of NPHS who went on to found a successful engineering company before creating the Gervasi Vineyard winery in Canton.

The application process for the student scholarships is straightforward.

“Students fill out an application form,” said Danielle Ryan, who handles many tasks as administrator for the Quaker Foundation. “There are academic scholarships, which consider grade point average and test scores, and then there are leadership scholarships, which take into account what kind of extracurricular activities each applicant has been involved with and how their leadership abilities have come through.”

Selections are made by the 10-member board, and scholarships are awarded the first Friday of May each year.

The selection is a blind choice. “We don’t see any names associated with any of the applications,” McInturf said.

Some of the scholarships are specific, meant for a student who plays basketball or runs in the track program or someone who is pursuing a specific field of study. Quaker Foundation scholarships are entirely funded by donations from the community, with some donors making such stipulations.

Four teachers are honored each year as well. This year two NPHS instructors, Joyce Morrell and Sandra Graham, were each awarded the $6,000 Dr. William J. and Mae Hurst Jackson Award for Distinguished Teaching. Runners up were Mary Beth Edwards and Kelly VanArsdalen with $1,500 each.

“Being awarded the scholarships means more to many of the students than the money itself,” McInturf said, “the recognition and prestige that goes with the scholarship. And the parents are proud as the kids walk across the stage. It’s all pretty great.”

“People like to be recognized for what they do,” Troyer said.

“In addition, we give away classroom grants for teachers every year,” McInturf said.

“Teachers come to us with an application for a grant until we reach our max of $15,000,” Ryan said. “It provides funds for classroom projects above funding supplied by the school.”

A total of $14,186 was awarded to 31 grant applicants this year.

“The scholarship awards are a highlight of the year for us,” McInturf said.

Both McInturf and Troyer expressed their gratitude and amazement at the generosity and strength of support in the community, which makes the work of the Quaker Foundation possible.