Seniors at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS) recently received more than $450,000 in scholarships at an event held April 29 in the school’s Fitzgerald Theater.
Some 210 individual awards of 110 scholarships — totaling $464,700 — were awarded at the annual CRLS Scholarship Ceremony. The awards are funded by a wide array of individuals, institutions and community groups and recognize students for everything from cumulative grade point average to athletic achievement to community engagement. There are also scholarships for students from specific neighborhoods and ethnic backgrounds, and those who have specific academic interests or artistic pursuits. “They honor students and faculty, they honor important partnerships with our community, and/or they honor our history,” Susie van Blaricum, dean of students at CRLS and the scholarship coordinator, said via email.
More than half the awarded monies came from the Falcon Pride and MIT Impact Scholarships, which each give college-bound seniors $10,000 over four years.
The Falcon Pride scholarships were started in 2017 by several CRLS parents who wanted to address income disparities for college-bound seniors, and worked with the Cambridge Community Foundation to create them. More than 75 donors have supported this, allowing the scholarship to be larger and to be given across four years of school. Thirteen students received scholarships this year, totaling $130,000. These awards are funded through local donors, and this year there were three new scholarships: The Falcon Pride Wislande Pierre and Falcon Pride Karen Engels scholarships honor two Cambridge Public School teachers for work advancing education equity. The third creates a second Falcon Pride Enroot Scholarship, supported by Enroot Education, a Cambridge nonprofit that supports immigrant high school youth.
The MIT Impact Scholarships, totaling $60,000, are in their ninth year and go to six students “who have demonstrated positive impact in their communities.”
Many of the scholarships are awarded under the auspices of Friends of CRLS (FOCRLS), a nonprofit that supports teachers and students at the school through a variety of grants, fellowships, and awards. FOCRLS was started in 2006 by two parents, Elaine Schear and Donna Spiegelman. This year, FOCRLS awarded $113,710 across 33 scholarships to 59 individuals, including an aspiring journalist who won an award from Cambridge Day.
While most of the scholarships are awarded to students who will be attending a two- or four-year college or trade school, the Mary Canavan McKearney Memorial Award for the Trade Professions is specifically given to a Rindge School of Technical Arts graduate to apply toward equipment needed for their profession or appropriate training programs.
For a full list of the scholarships and awardees, see document below.
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