Florida Catholic | Helping Girls Achieve Their Dreams

Helping girls achieve their dreams

Miami Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women’s council scholarship fund has distributed $95,000 since 1996.

ANA RODRIGUEZ–SOTO | FLORIDA CATHOLIC MIAMI BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 05.21.08

Lucy Petrillo, chair of the scholarship committee, sings with Scarlett Scholarship after delivering her committee’s report during the business session of the 50th annual convention of the Miami Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women. Scarlett Scholarship sings to raise money so that girls in financial need who are graduating from Catholic elementary schools can continue their education in Catholic high schools.
ANA RODRIGUEZ–SOTO | FC

FORT LAUDERDALE | Lucy Petrillo remembers exactly what prompted her to start the Miami Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women’s scholarship fund.

She was riding the escalator at a downtown Miami hotel during one of the council’s conventions when she saw signs announcing B’nai B’rith and the Airline Pilots Association.

She thought to herself, “Everybody knows the Jewish organization that is doing the same work we’re doing. Everybody knows the pilot’s association. We need to do something to let people know we’re doing all this work.”

Since then, the women’s council has given $95,000 in scholarships to 27 girls, enabling them to continue their education at Catholic high schools in the archdiocese. The scholarship money has increased gradually, from two $750 scholarships in 1996 to four $5,000 scholarships at this year’s convention.

One of the recipients, Cynthia Massillon, will attend Brandeis University in Massachusetts this fall with the help of a Gates Millennium Scholarship, one of only 1,000 given out nationwide. Massillon just graduated from Archbishop Curley Notre Dame High School in Miami, after completing her elementary education at St. James School in North Miami.

Another scholarship recipient, Shari Chin, attends Emory University on her way to becoming a surgeon.

“It just makes you feel so good to know you are helping them become what they want to be and achieve,” said Petrillo.

The scholarship program also makes the women’s council better known among archdiocesan school principals and the broader community. Attendance at the annual fundraising luncheon has increased from a few dozen the first year to about 175 this year. The council also received 52 scholarship applications this year, the highest number to date.

“Every year the price of tuition and cost of living go higher and higher,” Petrillo said. “We are looking at sums of money that once paid for college. If we can help even one person, like Cynthia Massillon, to become a better Catholic and a better person, then we have done our job.”

Scholarship Winners

The 2008 winners of the Miami Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women’s scholarships are:

Franchesca Fernandez of Annunciation School in Hollywood, who will attend Archbishop Edward McCarthy High School in Southwest Ranches.

Kailee Fernandez from All Saints School in Sunrise, who will attend St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale.

Daniela Garcia from Immaculate Conception School in Hialeah, who will attend Msgr. Edward Pace High School in Miami Gardens.

Tierra Forbes from St. Francis Xavier School in Overtown, who also will attend Pace.

Contributions to the scholarship fund may be sent to: MACCW Scholarship Fund, 7900 S.W. 143 St., Miami, FL 33158. The annual luncheon is scheduled for February 2009 at the Rusty Pelican Restaurant in Key Biscayne. For more information, call Lucy Petrillo at 305-232-1976.

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