The Comcast Foundation awarded $200,000 to 191 Pennsylvania students this year, including more than 40 students from Philadelphia, as part of its annual Leaders and Achievers Scholarship Program.
Joined by John Hanger, Secretary of Planning and Policy for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and other government officials, we recognized the students at a special event at the State Museum of Pennsylvania.
All Pennsylvania Leaders and Achievers recipients receive $1,000 scholarships, except for one student who is awarded a $10,000 Comcast Founder’s Scholarship – instituted in honor of Ralph J. Roberts, Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Comcast Corporation.
This year, that deserving student was Michele Holland of Swenson Arts and Technology High School in Philadelphia. Michele is number four in her class of 156 students and will attend Temple University this fall as a Communications major.
“Thank you so much for this award,” said Michele. “This shows that someone or a group of people believe that I can achieve my goals. This is a piece of motivation I can take to college, may God bless everyone who participated in this decision and your family. I promise not to let you down.”
After a prize drawing, 10 more lucky students received Samsung Chromebooks for use at college.
The philosophy behind the Comcast Leaders and Achievers program is to give young people every opportunity to prepare for the future and to engage them in their communities. The program also demonstrates the importance of civic involvement and the value placed on civic involvement by the business community.
To date, Comcast has awarded more than $22.8 million to nearly 23,000 Leaders and Achievers Scholarship winners.
