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Scholarship donors honored at annual luncheon

Donors contribute $565,308 so far this year to students

People at Luncheon

The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford honored scholarship donors and recipients at a luncheon held today in the Frame-Westerberg Commons.

The luncheon is an annual event where donors and the recipients of their scholarship funds have a chance to meet and share a meal.

So far during the 2021-22 academic year, 316 students have received $565,308 in donor scholarships.

Kyron James, a sophomore criminal justice from Philadelphia, was the student speaker.

“You’re helping someone that thought about coming to college but never thought about how he would pay for it because of his background as a foster child,” he said. “Coming to Pitt-Bradford was the best decision of my life: I found work. I found people who love and care about my education, and most importantly, I found my own independence.”

James is the recipient of the Robert Wick Scholarship, named in memory of the longtime Bradford attorney. At the luncheon, he had the opportunity to meet someone with experience in the field of law, the Hon. John Cleland, former McKean County president judge and former chair of the Pitt-Bradford Advisory Board.

Cleland and his wife, Julie, created a scholarship in 2007 in memory of Cleland’s parents, Dr. Charles E. and Elizabeth M. Cleland, who both graduated from Pitt Medical School in 1932 and who practiced medicine in Kane for a half century.

Cleland spoke about how his parents were the first people to see something in him that he couldn’t see in himself.

“How is it that we express our thanks to those who have seen the possible in each of us?” he asked, answering that it is by living a life of service to family, community, country and the world through kindness, patience, generosity, forgiveness and “a commitment to the well-being of all those you encounter.

“Use these scholarships to build a life of service,” he told the students.

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