Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation

February 15 Deadline for Webutuck Graduates Summer Scholarship

January 26, 2010

GREAT BARRINGTON, MA—February 15 is the deadline for applications for the Violet H. Simmons Fund Summer Enrichment Scholarship. The fund offers grants of up to $5,000 to underwrite an “extraordinary summer experience” for graduates of Webutuck Central School who are enrolled in their second or third year at a four-year accredited college or in their first year at an accredited two-year college.

Examples of programs that the scholarship might support include: a local, national or international service project; travel related to a particular area of academic research or study; an unpaid internship or independent study; and other study, work or services relating to the arts, government, ecology, history, literature, the sciences, children or youth.

Last year, Violet H. Simmons Scholarship-winner Nicole Roccanova used her $5,000 award to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and impact the lives of children in Africa by volunteering with the Msamaria Center, a non-governmental, philanthropic organization providing support and care to street children, orphans, families and communities. “The trip was amazing," said Roccanova of Ancramdale, who had never traveled abroad beyond Canada. “It changed my priorities. I now want to travel the world and do service work.”

The Violet H. Simmons Scholarship Fund is an endowment of Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation. Additional information and application forms for the scholarship are available online or by calling Berkshire Taconic at 413.528.8039.

Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation builds stronger communities and improves the quality of life for all residents of Berkshire County, MA; Columbia County and northeast Dutchess County, NY; and northwest Litchfield County, CT. Thanks to its generous donors, in 2008 Berkshire Taconic distributed nearly $9 million in scholarships and grants for programs in the arts and education, health and human services, and environmental protection. Berkshire Taconic is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

###