Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Shanahan student receives scholarship
17 archdiocesan freshman students each received a $3,000 scholarship
Bishop Shanahan High School student Patrick Dunphy received a scholarship for the 2016-2017 school year.
Bishop Shanahan High School student Patrick Dunphy was among 16 other archdiocesan students to receive a scholarship for the 2016-2017 school year.
StoneMor Partners L.P. in partnership with the Office of Catholic Education (OCE) honored 17 archdiocesan high school freshmen as StoneMor Scholars. Created in August 2015, the StoneMor Scholars initiative provides one freshman student at each archdiocesan high school with a $3,000 scholarship per scholar.
StoneMor President and CEO Lawrence Miller said they wanted to provide financial assistance for their valued Catholic education.
“We are delighted to hold this event for a second year, allowing us to celebrate and support our neighbors in a manner that makes a lasting, personal impact,” Miller said. “The value of a Catholic education is important to so many families – mine included – and we are delighted to be able to provide some tuition assistance to these talented young people.”
During the event, the StoneMor Scholars were recognized for their achievement. They were presented with sweatshirts from their respective high schools, by the following: Jonathan Ger, StoneMor’s regional vice president for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Cemeteries; Jason Budd, the deputy secretary of education for the Office of Catholic Education; Dina Kelly, StoneMor’s national vice president of sales; and Denise LePera, president of Archbishop Ryan High School. Francis Farrell, director of financial aid and scholarship programs for
the Office of Catholic Education, served as the Master of Ceremonies during the event on Oct. 13.
Administrators from the OCE and each of the 17 archdiocesan high schools, as well as families and friends, attended the presentation and reception at Archbishop Ryan High School in northeast Philadelphia.
“Since its inception two short years ago, the StoneMor Scholars Program has positively impacted the lives of 34 families and allowed them to provide an education rooted in Catholic values for their children at our 17 high schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia,” Budd said. “The Office of Catholic Education is grateful for the sacrifices that our families make to provide their children with a quality Catholic education that prepares these young men and women for a future filled with promise and purpose.”
The StoneMor Scholarship application became available before the 201617 school year to incoming ninth-grade students who had achieved certain academic benchmarks while demonstrating the need for financial aid.
Students were nominated by a selection committee comprising each high school’s president, principal, assistant principal for academic affairs, and the director of guidance, according to StoneMor. The committee members said they selected students based on a combination of their academic performance and recommendations from their elementary school teachers and administrators.
A new group of incoming ninth-grade students will be selected yearly for financial support during their freshman year at an archdiocesan high school. StoneMor provides slightly more than $50,000 annually to fund these young scholars in their pursuit of a high quality Catholic education. The archdiocese entered into a long-term lease in 2014 and outsourced management agreement for its 13 archdiocesan cemeteries.