The Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation is making a difference for five Cabrini students this academic year, thanks to a $10,000 grant awarded this past summer as part of the Foundation’s Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Program. Any undergraduate sophomore, junior, or senior, who has demonstrated financial need and also qualifies for accessibility services through the University’s Disability Resources Center (DRC), is eligible to become a Newcombe Scholar.
“It has been incredibly rewarding to see how much of an impact this grant from the Newcombe Foundation has already had on our students,” said Kathleen Johnson, DRC Director. “So many of the students I work with in the DRC have shown great determination to excel in their studies amid a challenging and historic school year. I am grateful to the Newcombe Foundation for enabling us to further support some of these deserving students so they may continue to thrive here at Cabrini.”
The 2020-21 Newcombe Scholars are juniors and seniors studying in Cabrini’s Schools of Education; Business, Arts, and Media; and Humanities and Social Sciences. They can direct the scholarship funds toward tuition and other education-related expenses, such as enhanced DRC services through the Access Plus Program.
“Cabrini University is important to me because the sense of community and focus on the common good,” said one Newcombe Scholar, who participates in the chess and anime clubs and who has done volunteer work at a canned food drive. “With this scholarship I can continue to study here and follow my passions.”
Another Newcombe Scholar, who is pursuing an Early Childhood Education and Special Education degree, said her scholarship is helping her family make ends meet as they also pay school tuition for her two siblings this year.
“Thanks to this incredible scholarship, I am able to further not only my education but also my future,” she said, noting that field experience as part of her degree program has solidified her goal of becoming a teacher. “This scholarship is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me, and I am eternally grateful to be given this gift.”
The current academic year is Cabrini’s first in partnership with the Newcombe Foundation, which has granted over $70 million toward higher education initiatives since 1981, in accordance with the will of late Philadelphia philanthropist, Charlotte Newcombe.