Southington Education Foundation, Inc.

SOUTHINGTON EDUCATION FOUNDATION, INC.

Instilling a love of learning.

 

2024 Scholarship Winners:

Dr. Joseph V. Erardi, Jr.: Uptej Singh
STEM: Uptej Singh
Visual & Performing Arts : Alexa Wherry

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Scholarships

The Southington Education Foundation is proud to offer the following scholarships to graduating Southington students. Students receive information on how to apply for these scholarships during their senior year. Scholarships have been available to students since 2015.

2024 Recipients | Past Recipients


Dr. Joseph V. Erardi, Jr. Scholarship

PROVIDER: Southington Education Foundation

QUALIFICATIONS: Graduating Southington High School senior in good standing who is furthering his or her education. The student must be civic-minded and demonstrate the desire to help school, community and/or country.

ESSAY: Provide an essay describing your involvement in school, community, and/or country and how your activities may shape your future civic involvement.

HOW SELECTED: Southington Education Foundation Scholarship Committee

VALUE: $500

AWARDED/TRANSMITTED: Upon proof of successful completion of first semester


STEM Scholarship

PROVIDER: Southington Education Foundation

QUALIFICATIONS: Graduating Southington High School senior in good standing with a desire to major or minor in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics.

ESSAY: Provide an essay explaining your intended college major or minor and how it relates to your career path in science, technology, engineering, and/or mathematics (STEM).

HOW SELECTED: Southington Education Foundation Scholarship Committee

VALUE: $500

AWARDED/TRANSMITTED: Upon proof of successful completion of first semester


Visual & Performing Arts Scholarship

PROVIDER: Southington Education Foundation

QUALIFICATIONS: Awarded to a graduating Southington High School senior in good standing with a desire to major in the Visual or Performing Arts. Categories include: Visual Arts, Music, Dance and Theater.

ESSAY: Provide an essay explaining why they selected their intended college major and how it relates to their career path in the arts. (Candidates with the strongest applications may be asked to provide either an art portfolio or a 2-3 minute performance video.)

HOW SELECTED: Southington Education Foundation Scholarship Committee.

VALUE: $500

AWARDED/TRANSMITTED: Upon proof of successful completion of first semester


Brian Goralski Memorial Scholarship

PROVIDER: Brian Goralski Scholarship Fund administered by the Southington Education Foundation (SEF)

QUALIFICATIONS: The Brian Goralski Scholarship will be awarded to any graduating Southington High School senior who is in good standing and who wakes up every day trying to do the right thing all of the time.

ESSAY: The eligible student application will include a one page narrative on why they believe they are the ideal candidate for the honorarium.

HOW SELECTED: The Goralski Family

VALUE: $1500

AWARDED/TRANSMITTED: Announced at the Southington High School Awards Program. Paid directly to the recipient after proof of successful completion of first semester is received by SEF contact.

CONTACT PERSON: Stephanie Patterson, Southington High School


2024 Scholarship Recipients

2024 Scholarship Winners:
Dr. Joseph V. Erardi, Jr.: Uptej Singh
STEM: Uptej Singh
Visual & Performing Arts : Alexa Wherry

Uptej Singh was named recipient of both the SEF's STEM Scholarship and the SEF's Dr. Joseph V. Erardi, Jr. Scholarship.  The STEM scholarship is awarded to a graduating Southington High School senior in good standing with a desire to major or minor in science, technology, engineering or mathematics.  The Dr. Joseph V. Erardi, Jr. Scholarship is awarded to a graduating Southington High School senior who is civic minded and who has demonstrated the desire to help school, community and/or country.  Uptej Singh embodies the qualities that have named him a worthy recipient of both of these scholarships.  He has chosen to attend Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he will study Electrical and Computer Engineering.  He was first introduced to the world of engineering when his father gave him a printed circuit board for his birthday. Uptej was so intrigued with the device that he sought out every engineering related activity available to him.  As his passion and curiosity for engineering grew, he joined the SHS robotics program where he found joy in collaborating with peers to design and build the robot. His participation in Team 195 CyberKnight, earned him leadership positions including VEX Co-Captain and President of the mass production engineering project.  Among his many other contributions to the Team, he is also a mentor and teacher to new SHS students and elementary school students.  He has enhanced his engineering experience through his current internship at a local manufacturing business. 

Uptej demonstrates his civic involvement to the school and community in numerous ways.  As a student representative to the Board of Education, he serves as a liaison where he can convey student concerns directly to administration  and advocate for the betterment of the school community  As class secretary, he contributes to the high school experience by providing fundraisers and fun events.  Outside of school, Uptej has actively volunteered in initiatives aimed at social, environmental and educational challenges.  As a Sikh, he is very dedicated and involved with the Connecticut Sikh Association where he devotes many hours cooking and cleaning at the local temple. Additionally, Uptej has participated in rallies fighting for farmer rights in India, organized campaigns for the addition of Diwali as a school holiday, and attended protests for Sikh rights to name just a few of his many activities within the Sikh community.  In his essay, Uptej describes his goals to bring about positive change in his local and cultural community through leadership and engineering innovations. He is the son of Parminder Kaur and Kanwaljit Singh.

Alexa Wherry was named recipient of SEF's Visual and Performing Arts Scholarship.  This scholarship is awarded to a graduating Southington High School senior in good standing with a desire to major or minor in the arts. Alexa has chosen to attend Belmont University in Nashville,Tennessee where she will major in Music Business with a minor in Music Production. Alexa states that music has been a part of her life since she wrote her first song at the age of 3.  Her very impressive music resume details numerous guitar performances for school and community events as well as for private celebrations and in local restaurants.  Her song writing skills have resulted in the production of an album of original songs and she is currently working on her second album. Alexa has taken every opportunity to develop her music skills including voice, piano and guitar lessons through which she gained the knowledge to start her own music performance business:  Lexi Mack Music. In addition to her passion for performance and songwriting, she has found time for volunteer activities at school where she advocated to allow music students to get equal credit opportunities and career pathways.  She has also represented the Music Department at the Course Fair, and taught younger students the importance of music in education.  She still found time to hold a job at Foodology Cooking School where she was recently promoted to manager.  In her essay, she states that one of her career goals is to develop her entrepreneurial skills and  through songwriting and music production, promote female influence  in a male dominated field.  Alexa is the daughter of Christina Hart and Christopher Wherry.

This is the tenth year that SEF has awarded scholarships to Southington students.


Past Recipients

 
Scholarship Winners

2023

  • Visual & Performing Arts: Madison Hendricks
  • Erardi: Ryan Ogren
  • STEM: Alyssa Polverari
Scholarhip Winners

2022

  • STEM: Anika Mathur
  • Erardi: Taylor DePaolo-Daily
  • Visual & Performing Arts: Madelyn Lukanik
scholarship recipients

2021

  • Erardi: Faith Kosior
  • Visual & Performing Arts: Jordan Cyr
  • STEM: Erin Klem
2020 Scholarships Winners

2020

  • Visual & Performing Arts: Jack Dunham
  • STEM: Emma Angelillo
  • Erardi: Joshua Maccione
2019 scholarship winners

2019

  • STEM: Rebecca Dorzens
  • Erardi: Abhiram Bhamidipati
  • Arts and Humanities: Michaela Hughes

2018

  • STEM: Chloe Becquey
  • Erardi: Julia Brilla
2017 scholarahip winners

2017

  • Erardi: Katarina Belales
  • STEM: Stephen Vollaro
2016 scholarship winners

2016

  • Erardi: Sarah Lamb
  • STEM: Emily Maciejewski
2015 Scholarship Recipients

2015

  • STEM: Erik Bergland
  • Erardi: Madison Chapman


 

Southington Education
Foundation
P.O. Box 42
Southington, CT 06489
SEF.Donations@gmail.com