By Zenya Molnar, Contributing Writer
Westborough – Every year, several middle school students in Westborough are selected for the Charlotte C. Spinney Vision Scholarship Program, a program that assigns mentors to students and provides extra academic and monetary support. Cofounded by former Westborough High School teachers Charlotte Spinney and Betty George in 1995, the scholarship program was established to aid students in school as well as outside of the classroom.
Spinney explained that the program is designed for students “who have shown potential and the desire to have a good education but for any number for reasons might get sidetracked.” At the end of seventh grade, three to four applicants are selected by a team of their seventh-grade teachers. The students are assigned three mentors – two teachers and a community member – who serve as a person to go to for academic and life advice for the next five years. It also provides students with someone to talk to about “the ups and downs of life,” according to Spinney.
All of the mentors are volunteers, many of whom belong to the Rotary Club in Westborough or are personal friends of Spinney, while others are community members who simply hear about the program and want to participate.
While a teacher mentor helps students choose courses or arrange for extra help after school, a community mentor serves as a link to experiences outside of academics. Spinney explained that mentors in the past have taken their students to art museums and hockey games and have exposed them to various careers.
“The mentor gives them a different view of what life is out in the world,” she said.
Spinney has taken students out to lunch and to activities, including the Higgins Armory Museum and the Polar Express ride in Pawtucket, R.I. She described the outings as “just a casual, fun day” that helps students build good relationships with adults.
Scholarship recipients must complete a community service project each year, either in the school or the community.
Currently, there are 26 participating students, nine of whom are in college. Spinney herself mentors the college students by advising them on financial aid forms and keeping track of their progress at the end of each year.
In total, the recipients of the scholarship are supported for nine years through the end of college graduation. Some of the schools that the students have attended include the University of Massachusetts Lowell, the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, the Massachusetts College of Art, and the University of Maryland.
Spinney, who taught American history and sociology at Westborough High School and mentored the first girl in the program who graduated in 1999, said that a major benefit to students who receive the scholarship is the “hands-on relationship and interest that they have with their mentors.” She added that students and mentors “become quite close in many instances.”
The monetary portion of the scholarship provides students in their junior and senior years of high school with means to pay for Scholastic Aptitude Tests (SATs), attend the prom, and purchase a class ring and a yearbook. The students also receive a stipend each year while they are in college.
The program is successful as a result of the many people in the schools and community who contribute.
“This program could not run without the cooperation of the school department and members of the community,” Spinney said.
She added that she is thankful for the Westborough High School alumni classes who have raised money for the program as well as for the donations from private citizens over the years.
“I think this scholarship really reflects the saying that it takes a village to raise a child because this is not being done by one person, it is being done by a lot of people,” she said.
Spinney currently runs the program with the help of Kay Hurley, a former guidance counselor at Sarah W. Gibbons Middle School.
As a history teacher who loved her time in the classroom just as much as the extracurricular activities, Spinney advises students to “always look forward, don's look back.”
To learn more about the Charlotte C. Spinney Vision Scholarship Program, visit visionscholar.edublogs.org.
