By Nicarlyle Hanchard / The Jambar
Furthering its ability to support students’ academic pursuits, the Youngstown State University Foundation announced the establishment of the William E. Maine, Jr. Scholarship Fund on Feb. 4 with the Farmers Trust Company.
The scholarship fund, valued at $1.5 million through the William E. Maine, Jr. Trust will be awarded to students in the Mahoning Valley who share Maine’s interests in skiing and waterskiing, or whose parents were members of the Freemasons.
Brian Nord, chief development officer at the YSU Foundation, said the possibility of creating a scholarship fund was first brought to his attention by YSU Foundation Board Member Lawrence Richards. Richards, Maine’s attorney, also serves as a trustee of the Maine Trust.
“This trust was created as a memorial to William E. Maine and a good friend of the [YSU Foundation], and one of our board members, [Richards] and I had spoken on some issues involving scholarship endowment,” Nord said. “As a result of talking with [Richards] about this trust, he asked if the foundation would be able to help them in terms of awarding these scholarships in the future.”
Nord said though the scholarships are specifically for students in the Mahoning Valley, this specification does not disqualify current or prospective YSU students from applying.
“Richards had gone to the [Mahoning County Probate Court] to get their definition of what the Mahoning Valley was, and that can be students from Mahoning County, Columbiana County or Trumbull County in Ohio and Mercer County in Pennsylvania,” Nord said. “Now, that does not exclude YSU students, that includes YSU students. But if these students would be going to another postsecondary institution, they could be awarded also.”
In the a release, Mark Wenick, chief wealth management officer at Farmers National Bank, stated the collaboration with YSU Foundation will help with efficiently awarding the scholarships.
“This partnership with the YSU Foundation will ensure a streamlined process for prospective scholarship recipients along with efficient administration and timely distribution of scholarship funds,” Wenick stated.
Expressing thanks to members of the Maine Trust, Nord said he is grateful for the partnership and the ability to appropriately fulfill Maine’s wishes.
“I would just like to particularly thank Richards, [Donald] Bolland, who’s another one of the trustees, and his wife Mary Anne, and of course, Farmers National Bank and [Wenick,] for partnering with us to get [Maine’s] wishes met,” Nord said.
Nord said that as this scholarship is not specifically for YSU students, a separate application form must be completed for students to be considered based on criteria created by the Maine Trust. He also said the scholarship is not yet open for applicants, but the intention is to have it available as quickly as possible.
“Our goal is to get this going as soon as possible. There’s not a definite date for start yet, but certainly when we have that ready to go, we will post that on our website,” Nord said.