MacCurdy Salisbury Educational Foundation held its Annual Reception for this year’s High School Seniors receiving Foundation awards on Thursday afternoon, June 12, 2014 at the Lyme Art Association in Old Lyme, Connecticut.
At the event the Foundation distributed $90,000 in grants to 30 graduating seniors from Lyme and Old Lyme. Foundation awards are based on the degree of financial assistance a student requires to meet their college expenses. If a student keeps a satisfactory grade point level they will continue to receive the same award for another three years of their undergraduate studies.
For the upcoming 2014 – 2015 school year the Foundation will give out a total of $259,000 to 86 students from Lyme and Old Lyme who are attending colleges throughout the United States.
The Foundation also presented two $500 awards at the reception; the W.E.S. Griswold Valedictorian Award to Isabelle Foster of Old Lyme who will attend Stanford and the Willis Umberger Salutatorian Award to Robert Melchreit of Lyme who will attend Wesleyan. Bill Griswold was President of the foundation from 1965 to 1992 and Willis Umberger was Secretary/Treasurer of the Foundation from 1966 to 1986.
At the reception Foundation President Rowland Ballek thanked the many supporters in the audience and the community whose contributions and bequests help grow the Foundation’s fund. He said, “We want to keep growing our endowment fund so our grants can keep up with the ever increasing cost of tuitions.” In the past seven years the Foundation has given out $1,581,850 to students from Lyme and Old Lyme.
The MacCurdy Salisbury Educational Foundation has a long standing tradition of providing financial support to local students going on to further their education at colleges and universities after their high school years. Founded in 1893, the Foundation originally helped support educational activities in Old Lyme. It began giving direct grants to students to continue their education beyond High School in 1918, a practice that continues today. In 1973 Berenice Brevillier started the Lyme portion of the fund so students from both towns, the majority of which attend the Regional District 18 system, could participate.