Adopt-A-Student recognizes scholarship recipients

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

WORCESTER – Opening doors for students to encounter Jesus is ultimately why the Adopt-A-Student program exists, the way some leaders explained it.

The program’s annual recognition reception, held May 8 at St. Paul Diocesan Jr./Sr. High School, raises money for scholarships for students in the diocesan schools: St. Paul’s and St. Peter Central Catholic Elementary School.

The reception brought in $49,400, before expenses. Jeannie MacDonough, director of school support for the diocesan Catholic Schools Office, said Tuesday. Money raised comes from donations, sales of tickets and advertisements in the program booklet, and sponsorships (for which donors get tickets, printed ads and sometimes online recognition).

At a Catholic school, every student has the opportunity to encounter Jesus, and such an encounter is the center of Catholic life, Bishop McManus said in his remarks at the reception.

Schools in this diocese display a sign which proclaims that Christ is the reason for the school, he noted.

Father Jose A. Carvajal, St. Paul’s incoming head of school, told donors they have helped open doors, in a world where education can be the most powerful tool for change. Each scholarship is like a door opening for families who dream of a future that only a faith-filled education can provide, he said.

In a letter in the program booklet, Bishop McManus said that for 35 years the Adopt-A-Student program has been committed to helping families that couldn’t otherwise afford to send their children to a Central Catholic school in the diocese.

He said more than 1,300 scholarships totaling more than $4.2 million have been granted over these years.

The program booklet listed 15 current scholarship recipients. It said each family must pay a portion of the tuition, and scholars must be academically qualified, seeking education in a Catholic school, adhere to their school’s code of conduct and participate in an extracurricular activity.

The number of scholarships is at its lowest, said Robert Kenney, who worked closely with Robert R. Pape, former Adopt-A-Student steering committee chairman. Mr. Kenney was interim chairman after Mr. Pape died in 2022.

Asked the highest number of recipients in a year, Mr. Kenney replied, “I don’t know if we reached 40, but we were close to it. Sometimes we lowered the amount” scholars received, instead of giving full tuition scholarships.

“We determine how many scholarships we give based on the amount of money we raise,” he said. First to receive scholarships are students the program already supports; it supports them through grade 12, even if that requires using unrestricted funds. Changes come when scholars graduate or move and when the program takes on new scholars.

“What we need is more money … because costs go up,” Mr. Kenney said.

“Through the generosity of our donors we’ve kept [the program] going. … We’re excited because we’ve got … new people on board.”

One of them, Edward J. Connor Jr., the new chairman, said, “Bishop McManus is very serious about providing a good Catholic education” to those who want it “so they will receive the Catholic values.” The challenge is to continue raising funds to do this.

“COVID quieted things down,” he said. “We had a couple of slow years” but rebounded last year.

Main annual fundraisers are the reception and the golf tournament, which brought in about $46,000 and about $52,000, respectively, last year, he said. An appeal to donors last December raised about $56,000. Investment earnings brought last year’s total to $171,000.

David Perda, superintendent, said the steering committee is asking, “What can we do to get younger people involved” in supporting the Adopt-A-Student program? One idea is to host “fun events” that could lead them to contribute someday.

Mr. Kenney spoke of perhaps inviting potential donors to a lunch and tour at St. Peter’s Elementary with Bishop McManus, which was done years ago.
“We had pretty good success and some of those people stayed as donors,” he said.

The May 8 reception included awards and college scholarship announcements for some of the scholars, and prayers and time to eat and socialize.

Student Recognition Awards were presented to Teresita Del Valle, Lyncee Estime and Michael Herrera of St. Paul’s, and Neggie Manosalva, of St. Peter’s.

A Recognition of Gratitude was presented to Michael Clark, St. Paul’s outgoing head of school.

Full tuition scholarships from colleges announced for St. Paul’s seniors were for Jaden Gyapomah-Darko (Anna Maria College), Valeria Gaffuri-Vandroux (Assumption University) and Maria Kelly (the College of the Holy Cross). These scholarships are awarded to those who apply and qualify.

Bishop McManus said in the program booklet that, along with financial support, people can help the Adopt-A-Student program by spreading the word “about how we are changing lives.”

Some receive funds, others give – those involved react

Lydie Tautz said she wanted her daughter in Catholic school here – “because I went to a Catholic school in Africa.”

But, as a student herself, she needed financial help.

As a teacher, Maridely Feliciano appreciates the values imparted at Catholic schools. She said she and her husband are both “hardworking parents.” But “there was no way we could afford all the tuitions” for Catholic school for their children.
 
The two women told their stories to The Catholic Free Press at the Adopt-A-Student Recognition Reception May 8 at St. Paul Diocesan Jr./Sr. High School. Their families are among beneficiaries of the Adopt-A-Student program’s scholarships, for which the annual reception raises money.
Donors also shared stories – about why they give.

“Education is the way to get a leg up,” said Patricia O’Hearn, whose husband, Richard F. O’Hearn Jr., helped to found the program. She said she supported him in his endeavors.

“My husband passed away 15 years ago,” she said. “I have continued that support because it’s close to my heart. It will continue in perpetuity, because I set it up that way” with a donor advised fund.

“I was the first in my family to go to college,” Mrs. O’Hearn said. “I became a teacher” of French and Spanish in public schools in Northborough and Acton.

“I thank my parents and grandparents from Lithuania for passing on the faith,” she said. “We need it more than ever nowadays,” especially a relationship with Jesus and his mission, to refute the culture’s idea that being Catholic, or any type of Christian, isn’t good.
 
Mrs. Feliciano commented about the values and family-like spirit in Catholic schools.

“As a teacher, I appreciate that,” she said. “I wouldn’t teach anywhere else.” She said she teaches Spanish at Trinity Catholic Academy in Southbridge and gets a tuition break for her youngest by doing so.

Two of her four children attended St. Peter Central Catholic Elementary School, one of them on an Adopt-A-Student scholarship, she said.
 
Her sister, a single parent, got a scholarship for her own son, first at St. Peter’s and now at St. Paul’s, she said. (The program provides tuition scholarships for selected students in those two diocesan schools.)

“I’ve met a lot of new people … because of this program,” said her sister’s son, Yenzel Remigio. He raved about the help that administrators and teachers have given him and others.

“It’s my first Catholic school I’ve ever been to,” said Lyncee Estime, another St. Paul’s Adopt-A-Student scholar. “I was [previously] interested in the things I’m doing now … music, student council. St. Paul’s gave me an environment to grow.”

The Adopt-A-Student scholarship is “a blessing, because I don’t know if my daughter could stay at St. Peter’s” without it, “because I would not be able to afford” the tuition, said Ms.  Tautz.

“I’m an immigrant; I live only with my daughter and was a student” at Quinsigamond Community College a few years ago, she said.

“I was selling my own stuff because I needed money,” she said.
 
Meg Kursonis, St. Peter’s principal, saw she was struggling financially and helped her get an Adopt-A-Student scholarship.
 
“I always said, ‘We led with our checkbook,’” explained Robert Kenney, an Adopt-A-Student steering committee leader for years. “We’re on the steering committee to do certain things” but also to donate.

He recalled a time when the program was low on money, the committee asked members to give, and six wrote $50,000 checks.

“With students being educated in the Catholic tradition, it’s definitely worth the sacrifice,” he said.

“It’s been a pleasure working with the students,” said Robert O’Connor, a steering committee member who checks to see how scholarship recipients are doing. “I taught school for a lot of years.”

He said he was asked to join the committee and has been on it for about 14 years.

Why does he stay?

“I believe so much in quality education … opening doors,” he replied.

You “opened my doors, for sure,” Michael Herrera, an Adopt-A-Student scholar at St. Paul’s, told him. Michael told The Catholic Free Press he’s extremely grateful, looks forward to “more giving back,” and will “definitely” help with the Adopt-A-Student program someday.