Monthly Update July 2010
Incredible Stories
If you were at Celebration! Last week, you know that the SSWBN Educational Foundation was very excited to give out seven scholarships this year! As a member of its Board, I was honored to be on the interview team, getting to hear firsthand some incredible stories from amazing women. We were glad we didn’t interview more, since it was so difficult to select the most worthy candidates and then have to decide who was to be eliminated. All seemed so deserving.
Just to tell you a little about our process, we send packets to various schools, colleges and educational programs from Boston to the South Shore and start accepting applications from March through end of April. The scholarships are available to women over 35 who are enrolled in an educational program that is enabling them to change careers or advance to a new level in a current one. In most cases, it is the ONLY scholarship they are eligible for, which makes us realize how important our work is and how much more we need to do. The Board meets, reviews all applications and grades them to a set of qualifications, then contacts the top scorers to be interviewed by a smaller team.
These were incredibly driven, passionate women with seemingly endless energy, doing whatever it takes to reach their goals – often juggling family, work (or their own business), and school. Frankly, I was exhausted just hearing about their schedules! Some of our candidates this year deal with an added effort of using English as a second language A few of them speak three or more!
Our winners include Martha Gallego, who gets up at 5:00am to go to the gym, runs her own daycare business from 7:00am – 5:00pm, takes care of her own children for a bit and then goes off to school where she works on her Physical Education degree. She is passionate about teaching children at an early age how important it is to be physically active, to instill healthy habits for life. Tuyen Tiet, originally from Vietnam, lived in a monastery as a Buddhist Monk for some time, where she amazingly learned several skills in the construction industry. She has shifted fields and now studies for an IT certificate, with a goal to give back by helping people grow their businesses using technology. We share the rest of our scholarship recipient stories and photos on SSWBN Educational Foundation website, and in our upcoming newsletter.
I feel so blessed to be part of this process by serving on the Educational Foundation Board of Directors. It is so rewarding to see how we really do “plant the seeds of growth,” and we hope you are as inspired as we are by these incredible stories. Perhaps you’ll even be moved to make a donation to the Foundation.
And if you already contribute, we, along with this year’s and all past recipients truly thank you.
Laura Willis
Willis-Works Communications
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you are a member of the SSWBN, and your business goals include education or training, then you can apply for the Learning Lottery. For more information, please visit the Foundation website at http://www.sswbnedfund.org/grants.htm.
