Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Recognizing the challenges facing the graduating class of 2020, a group of Napanee District Secondary School alumni have teamed with the Community Foundation for Lennox and Addington to create a one-time scholarship of up to $5,000.
Led by Dr. Malcolm Smith, the award will be called the Napanee District Secondary Class of ’75 Award (COVID-19 Response), named for the year Smith graduated from NDSS. He’s since gone on to become a professor of Marketing at the University of Manitoba.
The scholarship will be to help cover the costs of tuition for a student who might not be in a position to earn the money on his or her own due to the pandemic. Its intended for a student who is not supported by major scholarships or bursaries.
“COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the finances of many people in Canada, Ontario, and in the Napanee area,” said Smith. “People may have been laid off or lost their jobs due to the closure of their employer’s business. Recent graduates of NDSS may have been depending on salary from a summer or part-time job to pay for tuition, only to see that job disappear due to COVID-19. The result of this is that students who have been accepted to post-secondary institutions for the fall of 2020 may not be able to attend simply because they cannot afford the tuition. This award aims to help remove this barrier for at least one of these students.”
Working collaboratively with the Guidance department of NDSS to develop the award and then with the Community Foundation for Lennox and Addington to launch the fundraising campaign, Smith says he is pleased with how fast the idea has taken off. Within 24 hours of the launch of the fundraising campaign, the NDSS class of 1975 had raised $2,300 of the $5,000 target. NDSS alumni living in communities all across the country have pledged donations.
“This project is a wonderful demonstration of the power of communities, the lifelong affection NDSS alumni have for their high school alma mater, and the spontaneous outpouring of philanthropy that ignites whenever and wherever there are people with a cause that they care deeply about,” says Bob Childs, executive director of the Community Foundation for Lennox and Addington.
The fundraising campaign can be found at: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/cffla/campaign/napanee-district-secondary-school-class-of-75-award-covid-19-response.