Scholarship Recipients

Since 1924, the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo has been awarding scholarships to students from Western New York. Below are some of the recent scholarship recipients.

Emmanuel Wright graduated from McKinley Vocational High School in 2019 and from Medaille University in 2023, where he majored in Criminal Justice. To achieve his goal of becoming an attorney, Emmanuel relies on the scholarship he received from the Community Foundation.

“[The scholarship] helped me afford school and live on campus so I can exclusively focus on school,” he noted. “With the scholarship, I achieved a 4.0 GPA due to my proximity to campus resources.”

Emily Cott, a 2019 graduate of Springville-Griffith Institute High School and a former business major at Villa Maria College, plans to get a job in human resources or finance and gain success in her podcast. She recognizes that the Community Foundation scholarship afforded her the opportunity to go to college. I was able to go to college without taking out loans,” Emily said.

Chelsea Howell, a 2022 graduate from Niagara Falls High School and current student at the State University of New York at Buffalo, plans to graduate from the traditional or accelerated nursing program to become a labor and delivery nurse. When thinking about her education, she is grateful for the scholarship she received from the Community Foundation.

“Being a first generation, immigrant, and minority student – there’s so many odds stacked against me but the impact of this scholarship was imperative to my success by relieving me of one of the many stressful obstacles,” Chelsea said. “This scholarship from the Community Foundation has meant so much to me and it feels great knowing that there are people out there paving the way for my success throughout all the barriers. It also inspires me to want to help a college students who’s just like me in the future to achieve their goals.”

Charles Freeman, a mathematical physics major at the State University of New York at Buffalo and graduate of Alden High School, said the Community Foundation’s scholarship awarded him the opportunity to pursue the career of his dreams. “Having accepted a scholarship from the Community Foundation validates my efforts thus far in an educational setting,” he said, adding that he is grateful that the Community Foundation has seen potential in his academic pursuit.

Charles hopes to work in the aerospace industry and participate in a career with tangible results. Inspired by the Community Foundation, he also hopes to contribute to the betterment of the world through his work.