SPRINGFIELD – On Thursday, June 5, The Horace Smith Fund will hold its 115th Corporators’ Meeting and scholarship awards ceremony at Western New England University for recipients, their parents and guidance counselors and corporators. Samalid Hogan, Chair of the Board of Trustees, announced that this year there will be 31 scholarship and four fellowship recipients. She explained, “Providing that students maintain at least a B average in college, each scholarship provides a total of $10,000 over four years and each fellowship provides $12,000 over three years. Therefore, The Horace Smith Fund is happy to be able to grant a total award of $358,000 to area students this year.”
“The Horace Smith Fund was established in 1899 by the successful and generous philanthropist named Horace Smith,” according to James W. Broderick, Chair of the Scholarship Committee. “He and Daniel Wesson were the founders of Smith & Wesson, located in Springfield. Mr. Smith’s will provided that the residual of his estate after several bequests to relatives and institutions, was to be used for public purposes at the discretion of his executors. They decided that it should be used to help deserving students finance their education.”
The scholarships and fellowships are named for Walter S. Barr, a West Springfield businessman, whose widow left the bulk of the family estate to The Horace Smith Fund in 1950. Recipients must be residents of Hampden County.
The keynote speaker will be Kathy Chambers, Director of Financial Aid at Western New England University.
This year’s scholarship recipients are from the following high schools and colleges:
Agawam: Molly Mittler
Cathedral: Alexis McCrae
East Longmeadow: Aria Bracci, Victoria Dutile
Gateway Regional: Annaka Paradis-Burnett
Holyoke Catholic: Tyler Cox, Sean Yarrows
Holyoke: Melissa Bernard, Erin Hebert
Longmeadow: Erica Paul
Ludlow: John Domenichelli, Andre Ferreira, Brandon Nowakowski, Aryelle Teixeira, Jonathan Young
Minnechaug: Maricel Ferraro, Diana Gerberich, CaseyLu Simon-Plumb
Palmer: Scott Brewer
SABIS: Cody Jacobs
Springfield Central: Molly Bogin, Matthew Donnelly, Joanna Mueller
West Springfield: Sydney Castonguay
Westfield: Garrett Fitzgerald, Rachel Huntley
Wilbraham & Monson: Jackson FrenchRobitaille
Southern New Hampshire University: Nicole Riel (Palmerl)
The College of Saint Rose: Lauren Booth (Agawam)
University of Massachusetts: Zachary Berman (Springfield Central), Alexander Smith (Minnechaug)
The four fellowship recipients are graduates of the following high schools and colleges:
Assumption College: Felicia Baltazar (Chicopee)
Harvard University: Brandon Gerberich (Minnechaug High School)
Tufts University: Nimish Shah (Agawam)
Williams College: Rachel Patel (Longmeadow)
Students were selected on a variety of criteria, including their test scores, class rank, extra-curricular activities, and a personal written account of why the student feels deserving of financial assistance. Applications for next year’s awards will be available on September 15 online at www.HoraceSmithFund.org or by calling (413) 739-4222.
