by KYW's Steve Tawa
Hundreds of families were delighted to attend an awards ceremony on Wednesday after learning that they were to receive help from the "Children's Scholarship Fund Philadelphia."
After a citywide application process and a random computerized lottery, 850 students in grades K through 8 received scholarships to help them attend private, parochial, or other tuition-based community schools in 2009-2010 school year.
Ina Lipman is executive director of the fund:
"Our families have selected over 200 area community schools."
Lipman says that in the last 11 years they received more than 90,000 applications for 7,000 available scholarships:
"Once selected, they're four-year awards, and up to three children in a family qualify automatically."
Anthony Samuels (at lectern in photo) is a graduate of Abington Friends School in Jenkintown who had previously taken advantage of the program:
"I'm from North Philadelphia. I have a single mom. It's been me and her."
And now he's headed to college, thanks to a basketball scholarship:
"I'm going to Our Lady of Elms College in Springfield, Mass., and I'll be majoring in marketing."
(Photo by KYW's Steve Tawa)
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