Penn State Wilkes-Barre Scholarship Donors and Recipients Honored

Friday, October 21, 2011

Credit: Andy Molitoris

Ken Pollock Endowed Scholarship recipients Jordan Agnew, Paul Ascenzi, Shane Cooney, Aaron Grisham, Chad La Bar, Meghan Murtagh, Ali Paris-Hasan, Timothy Reinert, Adam Supey, and Zachary Yursha dine with Mrs. Marion Pollock and Rod Kirsch, senior vice president for development and alumni relations.

On Thursday, October 13th, Penn State Wilkes-Barre honored 106 students who were awarded scholarships for the 2011-2012 school year at the annual Scholarship Dinner held at Appletree Terrace. This year, Penn State Wilkes-Barre awarded 265 students approximately $730,000 in scholarships.

In addition to students, approximately 40 scholarship donors also attended the dinner. Students were given the opportunity to mingle with their donors during dinner and be able to personally thank them.

“For you scholarship recipients in attendance; if you take nothing else away from this evening’s program, I ask you to reflect on the generous gifts that have been made by your scholarship donors,” Anthony Shipula, director of development at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, stated in his opening remarks. “It’s our wish that you are able to achieve your dreams of a college education and a successful future, so that in years to come, as you reflect on your college experience and hopefully this evening, you will seriously consider paying forward your benefactors generosity to future generations by creating your own scholarships.”

Charles Davis, chancellor at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, presented two Nittany Lion statues during the evening’s program. A Nittany Lion is presented to donors who have completed the funding of their scholarship during the year. A lion was presented to Rick Barry, who in December of 2010 endowed the Rick and Sue Barry Trustee Scholarship. Roger Williams, executive director of the Penn State Alumni Association, received a lion on behalf of the Penn State Alumni Association; in March 2011, the Alumni Association endowed the Penn State Alumni Association Trustee Scholarship for Penn State Wilkes-Barre.

Abby Moules, a freshman bioengineering major and Rick and Sue Barry Scholarship recipient, addressed the group on behalf of all the scholarship recipients. As the program guest speaker, Rick Barry spoke on the theme of “Investing in People.”

For a full list of scholarships awarded and their recipients, please visit http://wb.psu.edu/Documents/Giving/ScholarDinner2011.pdf.

For more information, please contact Rachel Olszewski, Marketing Communications Specialist, at rolszewski@psu.edu.