Granted Scholarships Local community groups help send students to college BY VANESSA DENHA GARMO
J
une of 2017 marked the 35th year of the Chaldean Federation of America (CFA) Scholarship Program, which was changed to the Michael J. George Chaldean Scholarship Fund in June of 2014. “Due to the success of the scholarship program and the demand for additional funds, we found the need to expand the program, we hope to accomplish this by combining efforts with the Chaldean Foundation program,” said Rula Yono. The amount of money given out in scholarships varied from year to year but last year they raised $45,000 and awarded 12 scholarships. “We would score the entries and distribute based on the various levels,” said Yono. The two highest achievers won $5,000 scholarships each, the next $4,000, then $3,000 and the lowest award, was for $2,000. They gave out scholarships to high school graduates and college students earning graduate degrees. They also have scholarships for newcomers who have been in the United States for less than five years. In the early years of the event, CFA held a ceremony for all the graduates and then handed out scholarships as well. They held the event at Mother of God Church for several years before moving to the Millennium Center in Southfield. The annual event later evolved into a luncheon just for the scholarship recipients, their families and the sponsors. The luncheon was held at Shenandoah Country Club in West Bloomfield. In addition to possibly combining the CFA scholarship program, the Chaldean Foundation has its own academic scholarship program. The W3R Consulting STEM/STEAM Scholarship is designed to advance professional aspirations of Chaldean students across academics and vocational disciplines. The Chaldean Community Foundation’s Academic Scholarship Program is a collaborative of Chaldean philanthropies providing annual scholarship fund opportunities to 16
CHALDEAN NEWS
AUGUST 2017
1. Left to Right: Nicole Hermes, Salvin Salem, Diana George, Ashley Antoon, Joleyana Y. Hermiz, Katelin Yaldo, Isabella Antoon. 2. Left to Right: Reem Sesi, Ashley Antoon, Mona A. Paulus. 3. Recipients of foundation scholarships.
students and learners. “We appreciate the generous donation from Patrick Tomina, CFO of W3R Consulting, who offered two $5,000 scholarships for candidates pursuing STEM/STEAM degrees, focused on IT and computer fields of study” said Martin Manna, president of the Chaldean Community Foundation. “In addition to this, we recently awarded $25,000 in scholarships to our visually impaired clients through the donors of the Michael J. George Scholarship Program.” The foundation also established a fund in memory of Yvonne Nona. The Yvonne Nona Scholarship Fund will eventually provide scholarships to women in the Chaldean community. The amount of $250,000 has
been allocated. Lastly, the CCF has established the Abdulkarim and Jameela Sesi Scholarship fund, established by Joseph Sesi in their honor. The fund details are still being reviewed. The amount of $100,000 has been provided for the fund. The United Family Services Chaldean American Ladies of Charity (CALC) has the Nadia Atisha and Samir A. Paulus scholarship,
which is a need based scholarship. “This past year, they had 11 recipients that applied and they awarded six of them; three winners were awarded $1,500 and three winners were awarded $500,” said Diana K. George, program coordinator. “A recipient for the Nadia Atisha scholarship was Salvin Samer Salim who has exemplified extraordinary accomplishments in many areas, specifically in leadership,” said George.