Albert Shanker College Scholarship Awards
Joseph Usatch, director of the Albert Shanker College Scholarship fund, applauds the scholarship winners’ “determination and all-out grit.”
The UFT gave out $5,000 college scholarships to 164 high school students and 12 graduate students at the 57th annual Albert Shanker College Scholarship Awards Ceremony on June 2 at UFT headquarters. “Tonight reflects our students’ hard work, dedication, determination and all-out grit,” said Joseph Usatch, the director of the scholarship fund. Each year, the UFT awards union-funded scholarships to financially eligible high school seniors in New York City public schools and graduate students. Since 1969, the fund has awarded $54 million to more than 10,900 students. Vincent Pham, an English as a new language social studies teacher at International HS at Prospect Heights, marveled that the union offers this level of financial support to so many students. “For an organization to provide this many scholarships that are renewable for four years is unbelievable,” he said. UFT Vice President for Career and Technical Education High Schools Leo Gordon congratulated students on their awards and voiced the hope that the educators in the room felt in celebrating them. “When we look at you,” he said, “we know our future’s bright.”