New Britain, Conn. (May 20, 2011) – Family, friends and past recipients of the Alma Exley Scholarship were present to honor and congratulate the 2011 recipients, Sheena Boyle and Maria Rosario Melendez, at a reception at the Noah Webster Library, West Hartford on Thursday, May 19, 2011.

Sheena Boyle, left, and Maria Rosario Melendez, are congratulated by previous recipients of Alma Exley Memorial Scholarships, from left, Khalil Graham, Chi-Ann Lin, Miguel Cardona and Violet Sims

Sheena Boyle graduated near the top of her class at Wilby High School, Waterbury, and is a student in the five-year Integrated Bachelor’s and Master’s Program at the University of Connecticut.  Boyle, a Dean’s List student with a double major in English literature and English secondary education, is also a student worker at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.  In connection with her studies in UConn’s Neag School of Education, she has served as a peer mentor, a kindergarten tutor and a mentor in the Connecticut Collegiate Awareness and Preparation Program.  Having just received her bachelor’s degree this month, Boyle is now working towards getting her master’s degree in May 2012.  She plans to teach in an urban school system.

Maria Melendez received her teaching credentials in the Connecticut Alternate Route to Certification (ARC). She has been teaching Spanish at Cesar A. Batalla School in Bridgeport since September 2010. Melendez earned a bachelor’s degree in special education from the University of Costa Rica in 1999. In Costa Rica, she was an elementary special education teacher, serving students with severe cerebral palsy and multiple disabilities. She was also a secondary special education teacher for deaf and mentally retarded students and those with learning or behavioral difficulties. Melendez immigrated to the United States in 2005 and served as a volunteer teacher and a special education teacher’s assistant at Read School, Bridgeport, before entering the ARC program. She is proficient in Costa Rican Sign Language as well as American Sign Language.  Melendez has also completed the Nonviolent Crisis Intervention Training Program, which promotes early intervention and non-physical methods for preventing or managing disruptive behavior.

Ms. Boyle and Ms. Melendez joined 20 others previously honored by the program established in memory of Alma Exley of West Hartford, a former teacher and an employee of the State Department of Education, who died in March 1995 from breast cancer. She envisioned the program as a way to encourage diversity in the teaching profession by recognizing and supporting outstanding persons of color who are preparing for careers in education. Previous recipients are serving in schools in Avon, Bloomfield, East Hartford, Hamden, Manchester, Meriden, New Britain, New Haven and Westport, Conn. and in schools from Boston to Los Angeles.

The Alma Exley Scholarship program is one of many scholarship programs administered by the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain.  “The Community Foundation has been a devoted partner since the beginning,” said Woody Exley, who established the program in memory of his late wife. “The Foundation staff has been a most valuable resource in enabling the program to grow and flourish.”

About The Community Foundation of Greater New Britain

Established in 1941, the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain connects donors who care with causes that matter in Berlin, New Britain, Plainville and Southington.  It does this by raising resources and developing partnerships that make a measurable improvement in the quality of life in each of these communities.  www.cfgnb.org

To learn more about the Alma Exley Scholarship Program or other Community Foundation Scholarship Programs, please contact CFGNB Donor Relations Manager, Cheryl Farmer at 860- 229-6018 x 305, cfarmer@cfgnb.org .

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