Clark Scholar Spies Success
For the next few years, Chad Villella and his family will breathe a lot easier when it comes time to pay college tuition.
PUNXSUTAWNEY, PENNSYLVANIA
For the next few years, Chad Villella and his family will breathe a lot easier when it comes time to pay college tuition.
Villella — a junior at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa. — is the 1997 recipient of AFSCME's Jerry Clark Memorial Scholarship. He will receive $10,000 for both his junior and senior years. His name was picked at random from among 40 qualified students.
"Winning the AFSCME scholarship means that my folks won't have to pay the bulk of my tuition," Villella says. His father, Kenneth, is a Local 2113 (Council 85) member and works as a foreman for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
Presented annually, the Clark award is offered to children of active AFSCME members who are college sophomores with a political science major. Recipients serve as interns with the AFSCME International Political Action Department during the summers of their junior and senior years.
In addition to political science, Villella is also majoring in the college's Research Intelligence Analyst Program, the only undergraduate program in the nation that trains analysts for government and private intelligence agencies.
A budding spy, perhaps?
No, says Villella. He hopes to be a lawyer.
"I know the road ahead is a tough one, paved with a lot of hard work," says Villella. "And there may be some obstacles, but thanks to AFSCME, funding won't be one of them."
AFSCME Scholarships
The Jerry Clark Scholarship provides $10,000 to sophomore political science majors for both the junior and senior years in college. The winner works as an intern with the AFSCME Political Action Department for one summer. The application process opens March 15, 1998 and closes July 1, 1998. The winner will be announced Aug. 1, 1998.
Family Scholarship is available to graduating high school senior children of AFSCME members. The $2,000 scholarships are awarded annually and are renewed for up to four years, provided the student remains enrolled in a full-time course of study. Applications are now being accepted, and must be postmarked no later than Dec. 31, 1997. Winners will be announced March 31, 1998.
Presidential Classroom for Young Americans scholarship program is available to children of AFSCME members who are high school sophomores, juniors or seniors with a grade-point average of 3.0 and who are active in their community. Fifteen students will be selected to attend a week-long special focus session: "Business, Labor and Public Policy," in Washington, D.C., March 7-14, 1998. Applications are due Jan. 16, 1998.
For information on the AFSCME scholarships, contact the Education Department, AFSCME, 1625 L St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036-5687; (202) 429-1250; TTY: (202) 659-0446.
Union Plus Credit Card Scholarship program is available to eligible members, their spouses and their children — foster children, stepchildren and adopted children. Grandchildren and graduate students are excluded. Members in good standing need not be Union Plus cardholders to apply.
Applications will be available in September and must be postmarked no later than Jan. 31, 1998. Scholarship recipients will be notified by May 31, 1998.
For more information, members can send a postcard with their name, local union number, Social Security number and address to: Union Plus Credit Card Scholarship, P.O. Box 9389, Minneapolis, Minn. 55440-9389.
