Newsletter Articles
2023
This Journey is a Quarter Century Old!
25 years ago, we gave out our first scholarship to a young woman named Satrinya Pompey. She was a successful student athlete at ETHS - co-captain of the women’s track team as well as a member of the basketball team. Post college, she joined the health care field where she has enjoyed a long career. The next year, we awarded a scholarship to Audrey Brewer. At ETHS, she was involved in numerous school clubs, activities and community service. After graduating from the University of Michigan, she earned her Medical Degree from The University of Chicago and then her Masters of Public Health from Northwestern. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Northwestern University, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. These are but two of the amazing journeys we have been so fortunate to have been a part of. And we did this with your help – this special community who believes in the power of education. We are grateful to you and to these amazing students who continue to deserve our ongoing support!
To 25 years! Gratitude and Best Wishes all Around!
2022
Gratitude For An Incredible Show of Support
We feel incredibly fortunate to be a part of and supported by a unique community committed to education as a solution. Over the years, our donors have proven to be incredibly generous with their donations and it is why we can continue to fund these incredibly motivated and talented leaders of the future. For 24 years, we’ve been able to support 94 scholars thanks to our grass root community. This year we were incredibly blessed by an outsized donation steered by dedicated supporters who have been with us for years. Unfortunately last year, St. John’s United Church of Christ closed their doors and chose to divide their assets among Evanston based Not-For-Profits. Thanks to the commitment and long standing support of Jackie and Charles Powell, The Three Sisters Scholarship Foundation was one of those recipients! Because of the outsized contribution, we were able to increase our scholarships from $4000 to $6000 starting with our 2022 scholars. We are incredibly grateful to the Powell’s and to all of our donors who share our commitment to this effort and to these amazing students!
2021
23 Years, 88 Scholars and So Much More Ahead
Even though 2021 has remained an extremely challenging environment for so many, our Three Sisters Scholarship Community remains focused and driven. We received a large number of applicants again this year – bright, talented, young people with strong aspirations to succeed. We found their journeys so compelling that we chose 8 recipients again this year. These individuals all demonstrated true commitment to hard work. In addition, they all care about the world around them and making it better. We feel fortunate to be able to offer support to each of these individuals and to cheer loudly as they accomplish their dreams. Our alumni are doing incredible things (see just a few below). Over the last 23 years, we’ve been able to support 88 talented scholars through the generous support of a community who believe education is the pathway. To you, we offer sincerest gratitude…
2020
Responding to the Call
Firstly, we hope that this newsletter finds you and your loved ones in good health and safety. That 2020 has been a year of intense challenge is an understatement but we have seen some of the best of humanity emerge. This year, we received a record number of applications and, as always, had to weed it down to a finalist list. Again, we were so impressed by the quality of students. Each applicant has achieved so much and done so through
their unique journey. What was different this year was the pandemic. Everyone was affected by it and in some cases, critically. We knew that each of these students had worked so hard to get to this point. They would not have their “normal” celebrations like prom and graduation. Yet every applicant displayed grace, perseverance, resolve, focus and excellence. Frankly, we just couldn’t find reasons to say no. We also felt it was an important message to send to our community:
let’s help when help is needed most. Consequently, we awarded all finalists the scholarship – our largest class ever. Happily and Proudly…
And always thanks to you…
2019
Giving a Boost
In this 21st year of existence, the Three Sisters Scholarship Foundation was so proud to add another five amazing recipients to our ranks. Over the last two decades, we’ve given out 72 scholarships to incredibly talented and deserving students who look to pursue their goals in college. Our scholars are doing incredible things. Gabby Ballard interned at CassVita – an agricultural company in Cameroon and it far exceeded her expectations. Olasumbo Babalola was most recently a system protection intern at Ameren and was featured on a podcast that focused on her goals. Oriyomi Adeliyi graduated from Middlebury and is now pursuing further education at New Jersey Institute of Technology. Abdul Baqi Okoya is a Principal Engineer for the City of Newark. Reginald Murphy is now a research analyst at Egon Zehnder, a Management Consulting Firm.
We are so proud of all our scholars and are thrilled to have been a part of their journey. We want to thank YOU for supporting them as well. Your contributions really do matter!
From Evanston To D.C.
We received a letter from Alum Alex Moore, Junior at Northwestern University, majoring in Journalism and Political Science:
This summer, I served as an intern in the Washington D.C. office of United States Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. In my role, I responded to constituent requests, helped to prepare the Congresswoman for committee meetings, and research legislation. It was so interesting to be around and learning from a lot of young professionals who are working their way up in the political ranks. I attended many networking events in the D.C. area and I know that I formed connections that can help me out later on with my political aspirations. My time in Washington D.C. this summer helped me become a better community organizer. I learned the skills necessary to get other people politically active. In the spring, I was lucky enough to be selected into a Northwestern program that will allow me to cover Capitol Hill as a journalist. So, I will be returning to Washington D.C. in January 2020 to report on politics for three months. This program will allow me to cover everything from the State of the Union to the Iowa Caucuses. This is a very exciting opportunity and I’m excited to get to spend even more time in D.C. I would like to take this time to thank the Three Sisters Scholarship Foundation for your continued support—it means the world to my family and me.
Study out of Stanford Suggests the Achievement Gap is Predicted by the Discipline Gap
A new Stanford-led study finds that an increase in either the discipline gap or the academic achievement gap between black and white students in the United States predicts a jump in the other. “As the racial discipline gap goes up, so too does the racial achievement gap,” Pearman said. “Likewise, as the racial discipline gap goes down, so too does the racial achievement gap.” Pearman also advises parents, teachers and school leaders to pay attention to disparities at their child’s school. “If your district has higher suspension rates for students of color than it does for white students, it’s likely that it is also failing to meet the academic needs of its students of color as well as it does its white students,” he said. “Similarly, if your district is struggling to meet the academic needs of students of color, then it will likely have a racial discipline problem.”