AMHS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

By Ray LaVerghetta, Chair, AMHS Scholarship Committee

On April 2, two members of the AMHS Scholarship Committee visited the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) to deliver this year’s $4000 matching check. Peter Bell, who also serves as the Society’s Treasurer and Chairman of the Finance Committee, and Ray LaVerghetta, Chairman of the Scholarship Committee, handed over the check to NIAF’s Julia Streisfeld, who manages NIAF’s scholarship programs.

The AMHS awards two $4000 scholarships each year, one to each of two highly qualified students. Our Society provides the funds for one of the scholarships, $4000, a sum matched by NIAF. The winning applicants must meet the joint criteria of both the NIAF and the AMHS. NIAF staff do the initial screening of the applicants, ensuring that only those applicants who fulfill NIAF criteria and whose documentation supports their application make it through the first pass. Qualified applications are then forwarded to the AMHS Scholarship Committee, which evaluates the applicants on the basis of the Society’s criteria, which complement those of NIAF.

The entire process began in December with the start of the application period for the 2017-2018 academic year, which closed on March 1. NIAF does its review in March and forwards the results to the AMHS Scholarship Committee, which, in turn, over the course of April, evaluates the applicants who made it through the initial NIAF screening. The Scholarship Committee typically concludes its work at the end of April and sends its results back to NIAF, which announces the results in early May. Readers of the Notiziario should be able to find out the winners of the two scholarships in the next edition.

Members of the AMHS Scholarship include Peter Bell, Lucio D’Andrea, Ray LaVerghetta, Romeo Sabatini and Lourdes Tinajero.