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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

New Scholarship Helps School No. 36 Students Attend MCC


Students and families celebrating “Moving up Day” at Rochester’s Henry W. Longfellow School No. 36 on Tuesday learned they have more to celebrate than junior high school. Thanks to Sheila Konar and her brother Murray Freeman (both of Brighton), the students now have the opportunity to receive a scholarship to attend MCC!

Konar and Freeman are native Rochesterians who attended School No. 36 when they were children. With a gift of $118,000 to the Monroe Community College Foundation, they created the Mary and Ted Freeman Scholarship to honor their parents who were advocates of education. Konar volunteers weekly at the school helping children learn to read. (She is also the mother of MCC Trustee Howard Konar.)

“Each time I visit the school, I tell the kids that they can go to college,” says Konar, who describes her family has being poor while growing up, but focused on pursuing higher education. “I want them to realize the rewards of education and how it will help them become anything they want to be. Murray and I want these kids to have choices.” She and her brother ultimately attended Rochester Institute of Technology.

“Through their endowed scholarship supporting the success of School No. 36 students, Mrs. Konar and Mr. Freeman have extended their parents’ message and love for education to future generations. We are grateful they have selected MCC to make this difference in students’ lives,” says Diane L. Shoger, executive director, MCC Foundation.

To be eligible for the scholarship, students must have attended School No. 36, have graduated high school with a minimum 2.0 GPA, have a demonstrated financial need and be enrolled full or part time at MCC. The first scholarship will be awarded in 2011.

Speaking on behalf of herself and her brother, Konar told the students she expected all of them to graduate from high school and have perfect attendance at MCC. “We don’t want any thanks, just a lot of college degrees!”

Rosanna Condello
College and Community Relations
06/24/2010