Outstanding High School Students win Math College Scholarships

Erica Voolich (right) congratulates Somerville High School students Hae-Young C Joo, Emily Mei and Nickolas Menezes on their winning Somerville Mathematics Fund Scholarships.

The Somerville Mathematics Fund is pleased to announced that they have awarded five scholarships this year, thanks to the generosity of their wonderful donors.  The winners are such a delightful group of students who accomplished much while in high school are all planning on taking mathematics or mathematics-using courses in college.  

This year’s winners and their colleges are:  Hae-Young C. Joo will attend U Mass Lowell, Emily Mei will attend U Mass Amherst, Nickolas Menezes will attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rishab Sharma will attend Northeastern University, and Djinnie Timoleon will attend Hamilton College.

The all-volunteer Somerville Mathematics Fund is an affiliate of Dollars for Scholars.  They offer renewable mathematics scholarships of $1,000 a year.   

Three of the students received named scholarships.  Emily Mei received the Salvatore and Maria Pizzi Memorial Scholarship.  To read about the Pizzi couple whose family generously donated this scholarship go to  http://pizzifoundation.com.p9.hostingprod.com/

Erica Voolich (right) congratulates Emily Mei on winning 

the Salvatore and Maria Pizzi Scholarship.

Rishab Sharma received the Charlotte and Dr. Irving Fradkin Scholarship.  You can read the story of Dr. Fradkin’s (and his wife Charlotte who worked behind the scenes to help make his dream possible) at http://scholarshipamerica.org/news_items/fradkin_history.php

Dr. Fradkin was the founder of Dollars for Scholars over 50 years ago and just this April retired from Scholarship America, the parent organization.

Djinnie Timoleon received the Alice Schafer Memorial Scholarship.  You can read the story of Alice Shafer at http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Obits2/Schafer_Boston.html

Alice Schafer overcame challenges in her own life to become a mathematician and a founder of the Association for Women in Mathematics in 1971 and was their second President.  She was a founding member of the Somerville Mathematics Fund board in 2000.

Erica Voolich (right) congratulates Djinnie Timoleon from Prospect Hill Academy on winning the Alice Schafer Memorial Scholarship.

The Somerville Mathematics Fund, an affiliate of the national scholarship organization Dollars for Scholars, was chartered in 2000 to celebrate and encourage achievement in mathematics in the city of Somerville, Massachusetts. It May 2011, it was recognized as the outstanding Dollars for Scholars Chapter in New England.  Since it's founding, it has awarded $204,000 in mathematics scholarships to outstanding Somerville students.  Next fall, The Somerville Mathematics Fund will be seeking applications from teachers who teach in the city of Somerville who would like funding for classroom mathematics activities.  In October, the Math Fund will also be seeking high school students to compete in the ninth annual Scrapheap Showdown.  For more  information, to volunteer, or to make a tax-deductible contribution, please contact Erica Voolich (617-666-0666 or mathfund@gmail.com) or go to www.somervillemathematicsfund.org.