Two win Cogeneration Scholarships to attend SU

Two win Cogeneration Scholarships to attend SUJune 25, 2001Cynthia J. Moritzcjmoritz@syr.edu

Lawton J. Williams wants to become a school administrator; Danielle Campbell plans to become a high school science teacher. Both students, Syracuse residents living in the neighborhood just west of the Syracuse University campus, are getting some help toward achieving those goals, thanks to SU’s Cogeneration Plant Grant Assistance Program.

Williams and Campbell are receiving full scholarships to attend SU beginning this fall, including tuition, fees, room and board, and a book allowance.

Williams has already earned an associate’s degree in human services at Onondaga Community College, as well as a certificate in early childhood education. In the fall, he will enroll in the bachelor’s degree program in social work in SU’s College of Human Services and Health Professions. Williams will go to school full time, in addition to parenting three children and continuing in his position as a youth center director for the Syracuse Housing Authority, though he will reduce his work hours.

“Eventually, I’d like to earn an M.S.W., then enter a Ph.D. program,” Williams says. Ultimately, he would like to become a school superintendent.

Campbell will transfer to SU from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, where she is a forest biology major. At SU, her major will be geology, and she plans to also earn certification as a secondary science teacher. “SU has an excellent, excellent, excellent geology program,” Campbell says, adding that finishing her education at the University using the Cogeneration Scholarship will keep her from having to pile up loans to get her degree.

Williams found out about the Cogeneration Scholarship through flyers and pamphlets that were distributed in his neighborhood near the west side of the SU campus. Campbell heard about it from her mother, who works at the Syracuse Housing Authority.

The Cogeneration Plant Grant Assistance Program was established in 1992, preceding the construction of an 80-megawatt cogeneration facility on McBride Street. The facility sells steam to SU and electricity to Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. As part of an agreement among SU, city agencies and community organizations, the University provides a package of financial aid to residents of the neighborhood surrounding the plant who are working toward a bachelor’s degree and who meet SU admissions criteria.

“We continue to regard this as a very important part of our good-faith relationship with the neighborhood west of the University,” says David C. Smith, vice president of enrollment management. Smith has served as chair of the selection committee for the Cogeneration Scholarship since its inception; the committee is composed of representatives from the University, the Syracuse Housing Authority and the cogeneration plant neighborhood. As many as four people may receive assistance during an academic year.

Smith says that grades are not the only thing that is taken into account when selecting the scholarship recipients. “We try to look very carefully at individual circumstances, not just numbers,” he says. “Most of the scholarship recipients have overcome hardships and met challenges in order to get where they are. That’s true of the latest recipients, as it was of the earlier ones.”

In addition to Williams and Campbell, students studying at SU in the fall under Cogeneration Scholarships are Calvin King, who expects to earn a social work degree in December, and Sherita Gregory, who is working toward her degree in communication sciences and disorders in the School of Education in May 2002.

In total, SU has awarded 12 Cogeneration Scholarships.