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Employee's
child receives campaign scholarship
By
Rebecca Arrington
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Kathy
Kayser
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| First-year
student Jeanie Schoolcraft (left) and her mom, U.Va. employee
Valerie Schoolcraft, on move-in day, Aug.28. |
Like
mother, like daughter: 18-year-old Jeanie Lynn Schoolcraft plans
to take psychology courses when she gets to U.Va. this fall. The
entering first-year student could wind up in class with her mother,
Valerie Schoolcraft, who's worked full-time at U.Va. since 1986
and is also a part-time student here, pursuing a bachelor's degree
in psychology, which she hopes to complete in December 2000.
Exploring
financial aid opportunities for her college-bound daughter last
year, Valerie Schoolcraft, an administrative assistant at the Learning
Needs and Evaluation Center, read about the scholarship given annually
to the child of a U.Va. employee who has been offered admission
here. She made an appointment with the Financial Aid Office to learn
more about it.
Jeanie,
a June graduate of William Monroe High School in Greene County,
was offered admission to U.Va. in the spring and learned of winning
the scholarship shortly thereafter. She is the second person to
receive the $2,000 undergraduate, need-based scholarship, established
through the Faculty and Staff Campaign in January 1997.
Thirty-five
children of U.Va. employees applied for the scholarship, according
to James Ramsey Jr., associate director of financial aid, who called
Jeanie's record "incredibly well-rounded."
Salutatorian
of her high school class, Schoolcraft attended Governor's School
for the Humanities last summer and was named in "Who's Who"
among American high school students. She was 1998-99 president of
her school's chapter of the Beta Club, a national academic organization
dedicated to community service; a member of the band and chorus
throughout high school; and finished second in the regional science
fair held earlier this year.
In
college, Jeanie also plans to immerse herself in her other favorite
subject, Spanish. She wants to investigate the possibility of studying
abroad, too. "I'd like to visit Spain," she said.
Jeanie
attributes her academic success, thus far, to several of her teachers,
who "made the effort to get to know you and pushed you to learn
and think for yourself," she said. She also gives credit to
her family. Jeanie lives with her mother; a younger sister, Katie;
and her father, Gary, who works at Sears and is a chaplainšs assistant
in the National Guard. The Schoolcrafts have lived in Ruckersville
for 16 years.
The
scholarship Schoolcraft won is a one-time award, but students have
the option to reapply, Ramsey said. Larger or greater numbers of
awards will be made as the endowment grows. The fund's total stood
at $70,766 as of Aug. 15.
The
endowment was established with a lead gift from Senior Vice President
Ernest H. Ern, who served as U.Va.'s long-time Vice President for
Student Affairs before assuming his current post. "With support
from this fund, the children of faculty and staff will benefit from
the academic excellence their parents work to sustain," he
said.
U.Va.
President John T. Casteen III pledged the University would match,
dollar for dollar, up to $100,000 contributed by employees for the
scholarship.
- Employees
whose children are planning to apply to U.Va. next year should
contact the Financial Aid Office in December to receive a brochure
and application describing the scholarship. Financial aid can
be reached by phone at 982-6000 or via e-mail at FAID@virginia.edu.
- The
undergraduate scholarship is a University-wide goal of the Faculty
and Staff Campaign, a component of the $1 billion Campaign for
the University. A brochure, titled "For Our Children,"
is available by calling 924-7978.
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