24 award recipients...
$38,000 in financial awards...
1 great night!
The JCF's Scholarship Awards season has officially wrapped up, and last night, Tuesday, June 8th, we were ecstatic to celebrate the accomplishments of some of South Jersey's brightest and most talented scholars in higher education and emerging leaders in high school during our annual Scholarship Awards Reception.
Speaking during the program were JCF President Sydria Schaffer, who opened and closed the program; JCF Executive Director Seth Mirowitz, who gave an overview of what the JCF does in the community; and JCF Vice President (and President-elect) Robert Elias and JCF Board member and Scholarship Committee Chair Ed Rivkin, who presented the awards.
An estimated 50 guests-- which included awardees, their loved ones, JCF Scholarship Award donors, JCF Board members, and JCF staff-- attended the program. Held via Zoom, the presentation lasted approximately 30 minutes (short and sweet!).
Now in her final months of her two-year term as President, Schaffer mentioned that this awards program is one of the highlights of her year, and Rivkin echoed those sentiments. It truly is a meaningful event for all involved.
The $38,000 awarded marked the highest total in JCF history, and as Elias mentioned during the program, the JCF aims to continue to grow this number in order to help more awardees and provide higher dollar sums where possible. Award dollars are available annually thanks to endowment funds which were created by generous donors and spin off dollars every year to go towards financial scholarships.
While we would have loved to have hosted the program in person, attendees enjoyed being able to celebrate the accomplishments of so many outstanding scholars and young emerging leaders, even if virtually. It's been a topsy-turvy year and these recipients earned their stripes! (Plus nobody had to travel in the thunderstorm plowing through the region outside!) All that said, we do indeed look forward to holding this event next year at our old "stomping grounds" in the Lahn Social Hall of the Katz JCC.
Special thanks go to the many generous donors who contributed to endowment funds that perpetuate these awards each year, and we also thank the entire Scholarship Committee for devoting heaps of hours to reading, re-reading, analyzing, and re-analyzing the many pages of applications we received, in order to best determine who should receive each award. It's quite a lot of work in a short period of time, but they were up for the challenge!
We now look forward to the 2022 Scholarship Awards Cycle, with the application process opening in December... stay tuned.
Best of luck to all of this year's awardees and mazel tov on your accomplishments!