We awarded two scholarships to students at Fenwick HS.  These were the second and third scholarships awarded for 2019. 

For more information on the scholarship requirements and award values, please see our information page here. 

1) Colleen Stephany

Colleen Stephany with Brenda and John

The committee had the pleasure of interviewing Colleen as part of the financial need scholarship process.  Three board members interviewed Colleen, by the end we were all in tears.

The value of this scholarship is $5,000 annually, renewable for 4 years with a total value of $20,000. All recipients must maintain a B average in college. This is a category 1 scholarship.

Sports and Activities in High School:

Colleen was a four-year tennis player, voted captain senior year and two-year soccer player.  Colleen was a long time Irish Dancer and performed 4 years as part of the variety show at Fenwick. She was voted as a leader of Kairos, a school retreat, by a group of teachers. After successfully leading, Colleen was voted Kairos rector, or the leader of leaders, by a separate group of teachers.

Highlights from the Essay:

I have learned to be patient. In my opinion, the root of being kind is being patient.

With an absent father, a single, cancer-fighting mother, and an eating disorder following me like a shadow, I was in such a rut I couldn’t appreciate kindness from others. I now realize that was ridiculous. … My opinion changed when my best friend from New Jersey sat in silence with me for four hours following my mom’s passing. Her presence was enough.

Highlights from the Recommendations:

“Colleen lost her mother during her sophomore year of high school. Losing a mother is unfathomable in itself, but Colleen also does not have a present father, so her mother’s death was profoundly more painful: she did not even know where she would live. Colleen handled the situation with more maturity than any adult. She did not allow her schoolwork to fail, and she did not complain when she moved in with her aunt and her commute to school changed from 10 to 50 minutes.”

“As a Kairos leader, she has shared her life story and tells it in a way where she is deeply saddened by the loss of her mother but can still see the beauty in life and is very grateful for family members who stepped in.”

We are honored to add Colleen to our list of KJO Memorial Scholarship Recipients for 2019.

2) Margaret Kassay

Margaret Kassay with Brenda & John


Margaret was interviewed for a category 3 scholarship and was awarded a category 1 scholarship. The committee commented on how she reminded us of the kindness displayed by Kelli Joy.

The value of this scholarship is $1,500 annually, renewable for 4 years. All recipients must maintain a B average in college. This is a category 1 scholarship.

Sports and Activities in High School:

Margaret was a three-year Lacrosse player and played one year of volleyball. She also was part of the school newspaper, The Wick, for two years. She volunteered at Sunrise Senior Living for three years. As a junior and senior she volunteered at “The Write Place” helping Fenwick students with their writing.

Highlights from the Essay:

Through helping the residents (Sunrise) and making a new friend senior year, I have learned that it does not take a lot to brighten someone’s day. Through my experiences, I discovered being a caring and compassionate person has the power to change someone else’s life for the better, but often times, it will have an even greater positive impact on your own.

Highlights from the Recommendations:

John presenting at Fenwick.

“It was obvious that Margaret wanted to excel at volunteering and I was always looking for student volunteers that showed patience, tolerance, and consideration for our assisted living residents before being promoted to volunteering with our memory care residents. Residents in memory care sometimes showed challenging behaviors that many student volunteers were not equipped to work with yet but Margaret was one of those student volunteers that quickly got promoted and for that, she is a very talented (and caring) person.”

It’s with great pleasure we count Margaret as our third scholarship recipient for 2019.