Scholarship donors celebrated at luncheon

The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford honored scholarship donors and recipients Friday at its annual Donor Scholarship Luncheon, a chance for the two groups to meet and share a meal.

So far during the 2024-25 academic year, 385 students have received $749,086 in donor scholarships.

A donor and two scholarship recipients addressed the crowd of 150.

Brian Fernandes Halloran, executive director of Halloran Philanthropies, was the donor speaker. Halloran Philanthropies, which — along with Halloran’s late father, Harry R. Halloran Jr., and American Refining Group — has supported several initiatives at Pitt-Bradford. These include the Halloran Fellowships for teaching entrepreneurship, the American Refining Group/Harry R. Halloran Jr. Energy Institute, equipment for the fluid dynamics lab and makerspace in the George B. Duke Engineering and Information Technologies Building, and the American Refining Group/Harry R. Halloran Jr. Scholarship and Sustainability Endowment Fund, which has helped 42 students since 2009.

“Pitt-Bradford is a collaborative space about the future,” he said.

For computer information and technology majors Lenora Ramirez-Wildman of North Bloomfield, Ohio, and Koby Bradley of Warren, scholarship donors directly affect their futures.

Both students spoke about their home situations made paying for college difficult and how donor scholarships provided them with relief.

“When I received these scholarships, I was not only excited to eliminate more debt from coming in, but relieved that I could lower the amount I was being loaned from my family,” Ramirez-Wildman said. “I am grateful for our donors because they give students relief so they can focus on being the best student they can and not worry about financial situations.”

Bradley has used his time at Pitt-Bradford to explore not only his career through an on-campus job in Computing Telecommunications and Media Services and an internship in the virtual reality lab, but also by studying abroad. Last summer, he traveled to Tanzania in East Africa to study the Swahili language and African Culture, and he has another study abroad trip to Japan planned for May. Bradley has taken guitar lessons, joined clubs, took part in the Global Game Jam to create a video game from scratch in 24 hours and made the Dean’s list.

“These scholarships mean more than just financial support,” he said. “They represent the opportunities I’ve had to grow, explore and achieve things I never thought were possible.”

Several new scholarships and special funds created since last year were also announced. New scholarship funds created are the Marianne Jacaszek Brown Scholarship, Dr. Gilbert R. Mintz Scholarship, Full Stew Ahead Scholarship, Timothy J. Sturm Scholarship, and Preston Weinberg Memorial Scholarship. Other new funds were the Carol A. Baker Speaker Series Fund, Betsey Abbey Eggler Undergraduate Chemistry Research Fund and the Bruce and Beverly Perry Undergraduate Research Fund.

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