We awarded more than $492,000 in scholarships this year — our biggest year yet — along with our largest single-year scholarship ever.
Derek Arribada, a graduating senior at New Bedford High school, was awarded a $44,115 Albert F. Carr scholarship toward his pursuit of a marine engineering degree.
“I am a first-generation college student and this is a big deal for me and my family,” Arribada said in accepting his award.
Since 2002, the Community Foundation has awarded approximately $3.8 million in scholarship awards. With more than 60 scholarship funds in our portfolio, the Community Foundation provides hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to students, based on financial need, individual circumstance and overall character.
While the COVID-19 shutdown prevented Dr. Irwin and Joan Jacobs to meet personally with this year’s Jacobs Scholars, they did mark the occasion with a virtual reception, for these 2020 scholarship winners:
- Ana Curry (New Bedford High School) will attend Wheaton College in the fall to begin her studies in biology with a pre-med track. She looks forward to a profession in sports medicine.
- Jacqueline Le (New Bedford High School) will attend Harvard University in the fall to begin her studies toward a computer science degree. She wishes to research applications of machine learning.
- Grace Richmond (New Bedford High School) will major in computer science at Wentworth Institute of Technology. She would like to attend graduate school to obtain her master’s in cyber-security with a goal to work with the National Security Agency.
- Mya-Joy Westgate (Global Learning Charter Public School) plans to study nursing at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
- Abigail Arruda (Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School) will attend the University of New Hampshire to study pre-veterinary science and pursue a career as a veterinarian of small animals.