Tag Archives: Staples Tuition Grants

A New Website And Logo For An Old Westport Friend

Posted on January 22, 2013 | 4 comments

What do you give yourself when you’re 70 years old, but feel modern and important and eagerly looking ahead to the next 70 years?

If you’re Staples Tuition Grants, you give yourself a new website. And a redesigned logo.

STG — which started in 1943, with a $100 gift from the Staples PTA — is now a huge operation. Last year, the all-volunteer organization handed out $314,000 in scholarships to 111 people: 30 graduating seniors, and 81 Staples alums. The largest award was $6,000.

Each year, Staples Tuition Grants helps dozens of Staples seniors and graduates attend college.

Each year, Staples Tuition Grants helps dozens of Staples seniors and graduates attend college.

Along the way, they interviewed all 135 applicants. And they spent a considerable amount of time raising the funds to maintain a healthy endowment.

The new logo actually builds on the old one. Miggs Burroughs — Westport’s go-to graphic designer, and  himself a Staples grad — spiffed up the original tree, which symbolizes “the blossoming of youth through education.”

Miggs also reconfigured the logo, placing “Staples Tuition Grants” underneath the tree. The name now depicts STG’s “deep roots in the community,” while the extended tail on the letter “R” reflects an outreached hand.

Staples Tuition Grants new logo

The new website, meanwhile — spearheaded by Ann Pawlick — features an intriguing (and very educational) page dedicated to the nearly 100 named awards.

The list reads like a Who’s Who of Westporters.

It starts with Dorothy  Adams — a beloved, early 20th-century principal at the Bridge Street School, and its new incarnation as Saugatuck Elementary.

Next is Dr. Jean Beasley — a female African-American pediatrician in Westport, when both were rarities anywhere.

Phil Schuyler is one of many fascinating Westporters with an STG award named in his honor.

Phil Schuyler is one of many fascinating Westporters with an STG award named in his honor.

The list includes — among many others — Bruce Betts, Richard Cion, Noel de Caprio, Irwin Donenfeld, Doug Donovan, Chuck Eliot, Sharon Frey, Eric Goldschmidt, Preston Hirten, Ann Kiester and Katy Macieski, Joe Koeller, Elliott Landon, Michael Kowall, the Krosse Family, Susan Malloy, Natalie Maynard, Joe and Mel Mioli, Lou Santella, Phil Schuyler, Betty and Ralph Sheffer, Ken Sweetnam, Joan Wilder and Ted Youngling.

Many died before their time. Others died after long service to our town. Some are still alive, but remembered gratefully by those whose lives they touched.

The new Staples Tuition Grants website is functional too, of course. Students can apply online (this year’s deadline is March 22). There’s an alumni page, to see what great things STG grads are up to.

And, of course, donors can donate.

The entire site is worth checking out. You’ll educate yourself about one of Westport’s oldest, most noteworthy non-profit organizations.

You’ll educate yourself about the men, women and teenagers  (and foundations and corporations) whose names adorn much-appreciated awards.

And — hopefully — you’ll be inspired to make a donation, so that even more students can educate themselves, too.

(Click here to check out the Staples Tuition Grants website.)

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Posted in Education, Organizations, People, Staples HS, technology

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Red & White: Part II

Posted on January 12, 2013 | 8 comments

In the wake of last night’s “bus bust” at the Red & White dance — click here to read that story — County Assemblies secretary/Westport co-chair Sheri Howie Valente emailed all parents of Westport students who attended.

County AssembliesShe complimented the teenagers on their maturity in dealing with the bus situation. “Everyone was calm and took care of handling their own transportation back to Westport,” Sheri noted.

She added that her daughter’s group has already been issued a refund for the bus. They decided to donate the refund to Staples Tuition Grants. She suggested others do the same.

Sounds like a very sensible — and generous — solution to a situation that had nothing to do with kids and their parents. And everything to do with bus and limo companies that should have known a lot better.

Staples Tuition Grants

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Giving Grants, Transforming Lives

Posted on February 29, 2012 | 4 comments

After Cory’s father died in 2006, finances grew tight. His mother worked hard to support Cory, and 2 younger sons. He worked as a landscaper each summer, never forgetting his dad’s own work ethic.

Cory knew that his life in Westport was different from that of most friends. But he felt special, with a sense of purpose. “My father always said, ‘You can count on Cory,'” he explained. “It’s my goal to live up to that standard for the rest of my life.

Cory now attends the University of Connecticut, studying to become a landscape architect.

TJ, meanwhile, attended Westport schools just like his parents. After Staples he took part-time liberal arts classes at Norwalk Community College, while working in trades like plumbing, carpentry and HVAC.

He enrolled at Parsons School of Design at 23, when he had skills, maturity and appreciation for academics he lacked earlier. He will graduate this May, with a BFA in architectural design, and plans to pursue a masters degree in architecture. He’s fully self-supporting; his father, a contractor, was hit with enormous medical bills during TJ’s mother’s 8-year battle with cancer that ended last May.

Marykate entered Staples in 10th grade, when she moved here (it’s her mother’s hometown). Her father had lost his job upstate; the family lost their home, and her parents divorced. The transition was not easy, but Marykate made the honor roll each year. Neither parent graduated from college, but she has a goal: to become a physical education teacher.

Asia — an Open Choice student from Bridgeport — rose at 4:30 every morning, to catch a bus to Westport schools. It took her a long time to get over feeling different, and realize she’d been given a chance for an excellent education. As the 1st person in her family to attend college, she hopes to set a good example for her 2 younger brothers. She has set her mind on becoming a pediatrician.

What ties those 4 people together — beyond their remarkable stories — is that all had a burning desire to pursue their education after Staples. All faced financial difficulties. And all were helped by Staples Tuition Grants.

Since 1943, the organization has provided college tuition assistance for Staples seniors — and after, if needed.

Last year, STG awarded $300,000 to 108 Staples graduates attending 4-year undergraduate programs, community college, technical and vocational schools. Applications for grants have risen 63 percent, in just the past 4 years.

While the scholarships — ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 — may not seem like much, they often close the financial gap that can make the difference between attending college, or not.

Staples Tuition Grants is in the midst of its final fundraising appeal for this year. It relies solely on contributions from individuals, PTAs, civic organizations, local businesses and trusts.

STG is a low-key group. But the work they do is high-powered — and life-changing.

Tax-deductible contributions may be made by clicking here, or sent to Staples HS Tuition Grants, Box 5159, Westport, CT 06880-5159.

In 2009 -- at their 40th reunion -- the Class of 1969 presented a check for $1969 to Staples Tuition Grants.

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“Scoop” Schuyler

Posted on November 26, 2011 | 6 comments

In the 1910s, Phil Schuyler joined the Canadian Royal Air Force.  He was an American — a descendant, in fact, of Philip Schuyler, a general in the American Revolution and U.S. senator from New York — but the Canadians accepted 18-year-olds.

He became a pilot, and crashed his Curtiss Jenny airplane into Lake Ontario.

Phil Schuyler, in his Canadian Royal Air Force days.

Schuyler enrolled in Harvard, graduated in 1921, and joined United Press Association — the forerunner of UPI — as a reported.  Working for various New York City dailies, he became friends with E.B. White.

In mid-career he started his own PR firm.  He founded the Hickok Belt in 1950 — given to the best professional athlete of the year.  Rocky Marciano was an early recipient.  One of the few failures of Schuyler’s career was trying to get the trophy back, to award to the next recipient.

Schuyler also helped founded the Young Presidents Organization, for people who become CEOs of major companies before their 45th birthdays.  YPO still exists today.

Still later, he worked for Editor & Publisher.  His last assignment was to write a story about the news coverage of the assassination of President Kennedy.  He was so involved with this project that, years later, his mind tricked him into thinking he was actually in Dallas that day.  He went to his grave believing he was an eyewitness.

After retiring from E&P, he became the Westport News sports editor.  He was not averse to juicing up stories — making them more dramatic — but he was a very good writer, and he taught his craft well.  I know that first-hand:  He was my 1st boss, when I worked for the News the summer after my junior year at Staples.

Phil Schuyler, in his later years.

Schuyler married into the Bennett family.  He lived on South Compo Road, in a home that belong to the Bennetts since the 1700s.  He loved playing tennis, and one of his favorite courts was Parke Cummings’ — one of the first in Westport, and not far down the road.

His family knew him as “Pops.”  At the paper, his nickname was “Scoop.”

Schuyler’s last act as a reporter was to write his own obituary.  It ran, fittingly, in the Westport News.

After his death, a Staples Tuition Grants scholarship was founded in his name.  For several decades, aspiring journalists have benefited from the Phil Schuyler Scholarship.

Funds have nearly run out now.  One more link to a unique Westporter is in danger of fading away.  Perhaps a few folks — maybe those long-ago athletes he wrote about so “creatively” — will make a donation, to keep “Scoop” Schuyler’s memory alive.

(Donations to the Philip Schuyler Fund can be sent c/o Staples Tuition Grants, PO Box 5159, Westport, CT 06881-5159.  Click here to donate online.)

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Posted in Looking back, Organizations, People, Staples HS

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Classy Gifts From The ’50s and ’60s

Posted on June 3, 2011 | Comments Off on Classy Gifts From The ’50s and ’60s

Despite living in Westport, many members of the Staples Classes of 1960 and 1950 were not wealthy.  Paying for college was tough.

That’s still true 5 and 6 decades later, for the Class of ’11.

Fortunately — then and now — Staples Tuition Grants rode to the rescue.

Last night, STG gave out $300,000 in scholarships, to 108 current and past graduates.  It was a moving, inspiring ceremony — one of the best events of this graduation season, in fact.

Many awards are named for Staples grads who died.  Some are given by organizations like PTAs, Rotary Clubs and Sportsmen of Westport.  Each year, they help another group of grads.

Two new awards were presented yesterday.  One came from the Staples Class of 1960, which raised several thousand dollars during last summer’s 50th reunion.  Part of the funds came from careful budgeting ahead of time; part from the great feelings the alums had after their joyful weekend.  (It included a tour of the “new” school — remarkable to them, as they’d been part of the 1st students at their own “new” campus when Staples moved from Riverside Avenue in 1958.)

The Class of '60 reunion committee (from left): Barbara Picarello Wanamaker, Lynda Frazer, Linda Gramatky Smith, Geri D'Amico Strauss, Lesley Hodgkinson Anderson, Cathy Nazzaro Romano. Missing: Pat Hogenauer Harris. (Photo/John VIdeler)

The 200 or so grads who attended — and many others who did not make it back — loved the idea of giving something back to Staples, long after they left.

The Class of ’50, meanwhile — 10 years older, much smaller, but just as wise — donated to STG, in honor of 3 former teachers.

Both classes have the right idea.  So right,  in fact, that all reunion classes — this summer, and for years to come — should do the same thing.  Why not build an extra $10 or $15 into the reunion price, to go to Staples Tuition Grants?  Or solicit funds separately, at one of the weekend events?

Many grads, in each class, benefited from Staples Tuition Grants.  If we didn’t, our friends did.

Staples gave all of us an opportunity to learn, grow, express ourselves, and head confidently into the world.  Now let’s pay Staples back — by paying it forward.

Let’s begin a tradition that today’s graduates can embrace when they themselves become Wrecker reunion-goers, every 5 or 10 years from now.

(For more information on Staples Tuition Grants, click here.  The address is PO Box 5159, Westport, CT 06881; the email is giving@staplestuitiongrants.org)

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Tuition Grants Change Lives

Posted on June 2, 2010 | 7 comments

Graduating senior Santiago Cuartas received 4 grants.

Last year, Staples Tuition Grants gave away $198,000 to 90 graduating seniors, and alumni already in college.

This year, they set a goal justthismuch higher:  $200,000.

But the economy remains weak, and every organization in town has its hand out.  When the final count was in, they did not give out $200,000.

Try $265,000.

That spectacular leap was accomplished thanks to a supreme effort by the Staples PTA.  Tuition Grants also made special appeals to past donors, reunion classes (new this year), and parents of graduating seniors.

The family of the beloved Lou Santella — who died in February — also gave fundraising a boost.  They named Tuition Grants as a recipient of gifts in Lou’s honor.

Last night, that $265,000 went right back out.  In a moving ceremony, 119 Staples seniors and alumni received grants that, in many cases, can mean the difference between receiving a college degree, or not.

Scott Bennewitz — Staples ’75 — described the difference Tuition Grants made to himself, his 2 siblings and his single mother.

Lee Bollert of the committee choked up describing the memorial award named for Ann Keister and Katy Macieski — best friends killed 3 decades ago, by a drunk driver.

Nellie Stagg — Staples ’09 — spoke with poise and pride of her many activities and projects at UConn.

But the highlight for me was watching so many deserving young men and women receive scholarships named for people I personally knew.  Some died far too early; others led long and fruitful lives.  All are now honored through named gift awards.

Dr. Jean Beasley.  Richard Cion.  Noel de Caprio.  Irwin Donenfeld.  Doug Donovan.  Chuck Elliot.  Sharon Frey.  Jim Gillespie.  Bill Horne.  Michael Kowall.  Phil Schuyler.  Betty and Ralph Sheffer.  Ken Sweetnam.  Joan Wilder.  Ted Youngling.

Their names do not mean as much to the recipients as they do to me.

But that’s okay.

The gifts that they inspired now have the capacity — 5, 15, 40 years later — to impact new lives.

And if, decades from now, today’s recipients pay it forward — as others have done for them — then all the names read aloud last night will truly live forever.

(Click the Staples Tuition Grants website to donate online.  The mailing address is PO Box 5159, Westport, CT 06881.)

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