The Women’s Fund Awards Scholarships to Three Rochester School Students

The Women’s Fund of Rochester, along with the Greater Rochester Area Community Foundation, awarded Rachel Butala, Kathryn Cesiel, and Olivia Mooney; each with a $1000 scholarship at the annual awards ceremony held April 19, 2016 at Rochester Adams High School Auditorium.

WF Winners

Kathryn Cesiel and Olivia Mooney

Kathryn Cesiel, who attended Rochester Adams High School, plans to attend Kettering University in the fall to major in mechanical engineering. Through Kettering’s co-op program, she will also be working at General Motors Powertrain Engineering. During high school, she has been involved in a variety of community service projects through the AdamBots, robotics team, National Honor Society (NHS), National Spanish Honor Society and through her church. Through her robotics team, she has been involved in Relay for Life as a top team fundraiser. She has also helped with the Rainbow Connection’s Ducky Races at the Rochester Park and helped with robot demos at elementary schools. “I have especially enjoyed working with other members of my robotics team to conduct 6 week after school LEGO based STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) classes for children at Brewster and Musson. Through NHS and the National Spanish Honor Society, I have also enjoyed tutoring elementary school students in Spanish at Roger Elementary. At my church, I have helped to plant and maintain flower gardens, and helped with St. Vincent De Paul clothing drives. My favorite community service project has been teaching elementary school children at the after school STEM classes provided by my robotics team. I enjoyed seeing the kids for six weeks as we made a new project each week. I don’t have any younger siblings, and working with these kids was fun and rewarding. It was a great feeling to the kids open up to me and the teamwork and STEM concepts we taught,” said Cesiel. “In college, I plan to volunteer in the SWE (Society of Women Engineers) organization, so that I can inspire other young girls to be interested in STEM just like I have been inspired by my teachers and mentors. I volunteer my time because I have been so fortunate to grow up in a great community like Rochester Hills, and this is my way of showing my gratitude. So many people have helped me in my life to be successful, and I want others to have the same opportunities as much as possible.”

Stoney Creek High School student Olivia Mooney will be attending Michigan State University in the fall and plans on studying business. While in High School, she has been part of Student Council, National Honor Society, Freshmen mentoring program and Habitat for Humanity. Many of her volunteer experiences have stemmed from these organizations including leading the holiday activities with the kindergartners at the elementary schools, collecting cans for Habitat for Humanity and volunteering to be a Freshman Mentor. “My favorite volunteer position is being Student Council President. I am constantly coming up with ways to involve Stoney Creek’s Student Council in the community. One of my favorite things we do to reach out to the community is through our Outreach committee. During the holiday season, our student council travels to Hugger, Baldwin, and North Hill Elementary and leads several holiday activities with the kindergarteners. It is quite amazing to see how much the young children look up to the high schoolers, and it really cool being able to work with future Stoney Creek Cougars. I do plan to continue my volunteer work. I plan to get involved in a sorority in college, and with that comes a lot of volunteer opportunities. I also plan to seek out other community service clubs in college. Of course, I will remain an active volunteer in the Rochester community, regardless of my distance during college,” said Mooney. “I volunteer my time because I want to give back to a community that has given so much to me. Helping people puts a big smile on my face, and any act of kindness that benefits other people is worth every minute of my time.”

Established by The Women’s Fund to illustrate “Women helping Women,” the Scholarship was established for female students from Rochester, Adams and Stoney Creek High Schools pursuing higher education in college or technical/vocational training. The Women’s Fund Scholarship will benefit students who demonstrate active involvement in community service and a commitment to improving their lives through higher education. The Women’s Fund seeks to improve the lives of women at all ages and stages of their lives.

The Women’s Fund would like to congratulate both of these well deserving individuals and wish them well as they begin this new phase of their lives in the fall.

The Women’s Fund is a permanently endowed fund owned and administered by the Community Foundation of Greater Rochester. Through grant-making, the Fund provides ongoing and future support for programs that aid women while preserving and managing its donations in perpetuity by spending only the fund’s income and annual earnings.

For more information, please visit their website at www.womensfundrochester.org or for questions please call (248) 812-0763 or email womensfundrochester@gmail.com. You can also follow them on Facebook at “The Women’s Fund.”

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