Local Scholarships Help Send Greater New Haven Students to Higher Ed

Anthony Perez, a recent graduate of Metropolitan Business Academy in New Haven, is heading to UConn this fall with support from the Deborah A. Highsmith Memorial Scholarship Fund at The Community Foundation. The fund was established in 1991 by Carlton Highsmith to honor his late wife and her commitment to students as supervisor of special education in New Haven Public Schools. 

The Highsmith fund is one of the more than 75 endowed scholarship funds at The Community Foundation, most of which are administered through a partnership with the New Haven Scholarship Fund. The awards are announced annually at a spring ceremony.

“Scholarships, specifically for me, are so important because it gave me the actual access to go to UConn,” Perez said at the June ceremony.

Perez’s tuition is primarily covered by New Haven Promise. He says the Highsmith scholarship will help pay for other expenses like on-campus housing and a meal plan.

“If I didn't have scholarships, if I didn't have the New Haven Scholarship Fund and New Haven Promise, I wouldn’t be able to go to UConn.”

Samantha Mera also attended the June ceremony, where she received the Curtis M. Saulsbury Scholarship Award. Established in 2001 at The Community Foundation, the Saulsbury scholarship supports aspiring musicians in honor of the New Haven native and musician who devoted his life to singing and teaching religious, popular and classical music.

“The fact that I had this option now, it was incredible for me and my family,” said Mera. “It's so important because it gives us hope that we can really go to college. I came from another country four years ago, and it was so hard for me. College was just a dream; I thought I was never going to be able to go, and when I heard about this scholarship and all these contributors that helped students go to college to achieve that dream, it was so great. And I'm really thankful to them.”

New Haven Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Madeline Negrón shared her own story in remarks to the audience of students and their supporters.

“I cannot help but remember my own struggle in knowing that I wanted to go to college, and neither of my family had the means to send me there. Sadly for me, I did not have a New Haven Scholarship Fund like you do, so in my case it meant that my parents had to borrow money from everyone that they could.”

Dr. Negrón emphasized, “This scholarship fund is basically a message to you and your families that, as a community, we are saying we see you. The fact that these renewable scholarships are available to you, it means that we're going to stick by your side to make sure that we can relieve the burden of the financial stress that comes when we think about college.”