Arjun Patel said scholarship support "gave me the encouragement and motivation to be able to make UD my home."

Celebrating scholarship

Event pairs scholarship recipients with donors who make their education possible

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3:43 p.m., May 11, 2015--Arjun Patel always dreamed of being a doctor. One day, four years ago, the University of Delaware helped make that dream attainable when Patel received notification that he was being awarded a scholarship through the University of Delaware Alumni Association’s Alumni Scholars Program. 

With a vision for college and medical school now in his future, “it gave me the encouragement and motivation to be able to make UD my home,” said the senior biological sciences major.

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Patel and 300 other student scholarship recipients and their supporters recently spent the evening of April 29 at Clayton Hall for the Celebration of Scholarship, an annual event designed to give donors the opportunity to meet and learn more about the students whose educations they help support through scholarships. 

“We are awarded scholarships because the donors behind them understand all the possibilities that exist in college and want to give motivated students a chance to pursue them,” Patel explained. “The aspects I find most interesting are that the recipients really are dedicated to giving back and making the most of their opportunities. People are always asking why I am so involved on campus, and I always come back to my scholarship.”

It was with that sense of duty that the crowd of scholars, donors and a community of supporters mixed and mingled to discuss the importance of academic achievement, gratitude, a commitment for success and typical college experiences.

Among the guests was UD alumnus Ken Whitney, who served as the keynote speaker for the evening. Ten years ago, he and his wife, Liz, began giving back to their alma maters through scholarship and have since established the Whitney Family Scholarship and Whitney Family Chair of Accounting and Management Information Systems at the University of Delaware. 

“Education is important,” he said. “My children didn’t have to worry about where they went [to school] and it gives us gratification to give that opportunity to others.”

Provost Domenico Grasso presented the Whitneys with the fifth annual President’s Award for Philanthropic Commitment, noting that their legacy “will live on forever.” Ken Whitney also received the Alumni Wall of Fame Award and urged students to treasure their four years at the University and to always stay connected. “My four years spent here were the four most important years of my life,” he said.

Patel served as the student speaker for this year’s event. “It’s an honor to be part of all the personal stories happening around us, and getting a chance to talk to the donors behind the [giving],” he told the crowd.

Patel followed his remarks by introducing a video that highlighted the personal stories of other gracious scholarship recipients appreciative for the generosity of donors. “My scholarship meant everything to me,” Patel said, echoing the sentiments of another student featured in the video. “I hope to be in a position where I can do the same for others.”

Listening from across the room and seated next to her donors was Rebecca Guarino, a recipient of the Mae Carter Scholarship. Carter, who was featured in the April issue of the UD Messenger for establishing a more fair and healthy environment for women at UD, has long advocated for women’s education.

Guarino, a senior who is double majoring in secondary mathematics education and women and gender studies, spent time during her sophomore and junior year visiting girls in a juvenile delinquent center in Philadelphia. “I read a lot of poetry to them and helped the girls to write their own poetry,” she said.

Guarino and the women she worked with at the center decided to publish a book of their poetry. The book, Voices of Beautiful Flowers, includes the poetry of more than 100 writers from the center.

She called the Mae Carter Scholarship a “great motivation and a reminder of why you do the work you do.” Carter interjected to remind her, “We’ve done what we could do and now it’s your turn to help other women.” Guarino agreed, adding, “Yes, now we have to continue to pay it forward.”

With three interviews lined up at the end of that week with a school in the South Bronx of her home state of New York, Guarino plans to shape the lives of students and women in the high-need community through teaching and mentorship.

Guarino said she plans to become a teacher after college, where she will be met with the opportunity to invest into the academic lives of others, in the same manner that her donor invested into her. Like Patel, she hopes to be a beacon of light by helping and serving others.

As for Patel, next fall he will be attending the Sidney Kimmel College of Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University. “The most important reason I want to become a doctor is to physically be able to make an impact on the world and on people. As I think about it now, that is exactly what our donors are doing in students’ lives each and every day.”

About Celebration of Scholarship

The Celebration of Scholarship is an annual event to acknowledge and celebrate the generosity of undergraduate scholarship support at the University.

About Development and Alumni Relations

The Office of Development and Alumni Relations (DAR) engages donors, alumni, friends, parents, faculty, staff and students in a lifelong relationship and fosters a tradition of philanthropy to strengthen the University’s legacy as one of the great public institutions of higher education in America.

Photos by Ambre Alexander Payne

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