Somerville, April 28, 2011 – Somerville Mathematics Fund, a Dollars for Scholars Chapter, is pleased to announce that it is the recipient of the 2011 New England Chapter of the Year Award. The Chapter of the Year Award honors and recognizes Dollars for Scholars® chapters that have performed outstanding service to their community and that exemplify the commitment of Dollars for Scholars and Scholarship America® to ensuring all students have access to and complete postsecondary education.
They were chartered in September 2000 to celebrate and encourage achievement in mathematics in the city of Somerville, Massachusetts. They offer renewable mathematics scholarships to students who were residents of Somerville during their high school years without regard to which high school the applicant attended. They offer grants to K-12 teachers of Somerville students for projects to improve mathematics instruction in the classroom or in after-school programs. As of January, they have awarded a total of $138,000 in four-year mathematics scholarships to thirty-five students and $47,921 in teacher grants to support one hundred four teachers’ projects and fifteen emergency grants to ESCS teachers after their devastating fire. They also run middle school family math nights to celebrate Pi, for example, and the Scrapheap Showdown, a high school engineering challege each October.
As the New England Chapter of the Year, Somerville Mathematics Fund, A Dollars for Scholars Chapter, will receive a $500 scholarship and will be entered into the National Chapter of the Year competition. The chapter selected as the National Chapter of the Year will receive a $1,000 scholarship.
“We are honored by this recognition. We couldn’t do what we do in the community of Somerville if it weren’t for our wonderful volunteers and donors. I want to thank them for their continued support and efforts,” said the chapter president, Erica Voolich, “this award is really recognition of everyone’s effort to make mathematics accessible and exciting here in Somerville.”
About New England Dollars for Scholars®
· Northeast Dollars for Scholars provides leadership and support for 280 chapters throughout the six New England states and the state of New York.
· Northeast Dollars for Scholars actively promotes the Collegiate Partners Program of Scholarship America. Almost five hundred colleges and universities agree to use Dollars for Scholars scholarships to reduce student and family loan debt and not adjust need-based institutional gift aid the college has already given to the student. A number of Collegiate Partners also match chapter awards, effectively doubling the scholarship. Northeast Dollars for Scholars works with 164 Collegiate Partners throughout the seven-state region.
· In 2010, Northeast chapters awarded almost $19 million in scholarships to more than 15,000 students. In 2010, Northeast chapters distributed an average of $75,000 each in college scholarships.
About Scholarship America®
Scholarship America mobilizes support for students getting into and graduating from college. The movement began in 1958 with the first Dollars for Scholars chapters. We became a national organization in 1961—and since then, we've helped more than 1.7 million students follow their dream of getting to college. Go to www.scholarshipamerica.org
to learn more.
