The Stamford Rotary Club usually only awards scholarships to ten high school students. But this time, Matthew Stendardi, the club’s scholarship trust fund committee chair, said they had a really tough time figuring out who’d make the cut.
“We were able to make some room in the budget because we just thought the quality of the applicants was too good to not give 12,” Stendardi said.
Most of the students come from a mix of middle and working class backgrounds. Stendardi says the scholarship recipients have said the students who got the scholarships all had impressive qualities.
Overall, the club awarded students $120,000 in scholarships.
Stendardi said the club tries to keep up with rising tuition rates and as a result, has increased its scholarship fund over the years, He said this year’s award amount was higher than expected.
Mark Jaffe, a Stamford Rotary Club board member, said the scholarship amounts the club awarded in the past were much smaller.
“62 years ago we were giving three or four scholarships at $250 a piece, so things have grown,” Jaffe said.
Tuition costs have increased since then. But according to the Associated Press, in-state tuition rates for public higher education have actually decreased over the last few years when accounting for inflation and grants, although private higher education rates have continued to trend upward.
Tamryn Lee Williams, spent just 29 seconds at the podium at the Rotary Club awards event in Stamford, where she thanked the club for granting her a scholarship. Williams also used the moment to thank other supportive people in her life. “I want to thank my family and my advocates who got me where I am today,” Williams said.
Evie DeRosa sat a few rows away in the back. DeRosa, a post-secondary coordinator with Domus, said Williams transformed herself in high school.
“Her freshman year she definitely was super quiet, and it really wasn't until her sophomore year, that summer, through Domus, we were able to take a group of girls to Washington, DC, and that's really where I saw Tamryn kind of break out of her shell,” DeRosa said.
Williams now has her tuition at Winston-Salem State University fully paid for with a mix of scholarships including money from the Rotary Club. The scholarship, DeRosa said, was a huge relief.
“Something about Tamryn is that she is first generation… she didn't have the traditional experience of having both parents with her, and so for her this was a big deal,” DeRosa said.
