Wheelock College Expanding Student Learning Opportunities

Wheelock College announced today an exciting boost in funding for scholarships and service learning opportunities that will support deserving Wheelock students as they work to advance their knowledge and the College’s mission to improve the lives of children and their families. Strong commitments from dedicated Wheelock alumni and trustees coupled with $195,000 in generous grant support from the Geneviève McMillan-Reba Stewart Foundation and Santander Universities, have significantly contributed to increase opportunities that will be available to students starting this fall 2014. Wheelock now has funding to support $2 million in scholarships each year.

“We are very pleased to deepen our relationships with our amazing partners, Santander Universities and McMillan-Reba Steward Foundation both organizations are deeply committed to improving access to education for deserving students.   We are also thrilled with additional scholarship support from our dedicated alumni and board members to support Wheelock students as they work to inspire a world of good, ,” said Jackie Jenkins-Scott, President of Wheelock College. “We are truly excited to work together to expand opportunities where children and youth can thrive, families are supported, and those who work with children and families are appreciated.”

The Geneviève McMillan-Reba Stewart Foundation, established in 2001 to realize the vision of its founder, Geneviève McMillan (1922-2008), and to commemorate the life and work of her friend, the artist Reba Stewart (1930-1971) has granted $120,000 in scholarships to Wheelock College to create the Geneviève McMillan-Reba Stewart Foundation Public School Student Scholarship Fund: Access to a Bright Future. The scholarships will go to three highly motivated students from Boston public high schools who demonstrate financial need, have a GPA of 2.75 or above and are seeking degrees in STEM-related or arts and humanities programs.

Wheelock College has a ten-year relationship with Santander, formerly Sovereign Bank.  Santander Universities, the nonprofit arm of Santander Bank that collaborates with universities on unique global initiatives, has granted $25,000 per year for three years, to expand student scholarships for Wheelock’s Presidential International Service Learning Program. The program offers students the opportunity for deep learning through academically-supported service and community engagement projects with a civic focus. Service learning and exposure to a variety of cultures is an integral part of a Wheelock education, beginning right from students' first year on campus. In 2012-2013, 55 students provided more than 1,478 service hours during trips to South Africa, West Africa (Benin and Ghana), Northern Ireland, Belize, Haiti, Germany and Barbados. Students return inspired and excited about the integration of learning and service.

Generous individual donors have been great supporters of increasing access to a Wheelock education through three separate funds in excess of one million dollars: an anonymous donation, the Irene Frail Hamm '60 Endowed Urban Scholarship Fund and the Katherine Wendell Creighton Endowed Scholarship Fund.  Because Wheelock continually seeks to increase opportunities for high achieving students, new funds continue to be sought. Several funds were established through the recent $81M Capital Campaign efforts, which included donations from alumni and community leaders such as the Clifford (Keena Dunn Clifford ’68) and Jaunich families (Kathleen M. Jaunich '64). Because of their contributions and those from many others, Wheelock has more funding for scholarships than ever before.

For more information on how Wheelock is continuing to expand student opportunities, visit wheelock.edu.