For 55 years, the Green Family Foundation and Firstrust Bank have provided a pathway to achieving higher education for civic-minded high school seniors in the Greater Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley regions through the Samuel A. Green Scholarship Program. During a celebration last week at the Firstrust Bank Club at Lincoln Financial Field, the Green Family Foundation and Firstrust Bank awarded $360,000 to 18 college-bound students.
Local awardees were Justin Cheeseman, of Father Judge, and Elda Sinaj, of Northeast High.
The Samuel A. Green Scholarship Program granted each winning student a $20,000 scholarship, to be evenly distributed over the course of four years, to seniors who crafted personal essays about how they will apply their education to impact their communities.
“When I think about the number of young adults we’ve supported through the Samuel A. Green Scholarship Program, more than 1,000 students, I am amazed by the impact and honored to uphold the legacy of my grandfather and Firstrust’s founder, Samuel A. Green,” said Richard J. Green, Executive Chairman of Firstrust Bank’s Board of Directors and Trustee of the Green Family Foundation.
Samuel A. Green, founder of Firstrust Bank, believed in the importance of receiving a college education and using it to give back to the community.
“At the Green Family Foundation and Firstrust, we want to help remove barriers for our region’s bright young minds to pursue higher education, so they can become catalysts for positive change in our communities. That’s why we’ve decided to provide $20,000 scholarships for students over the course of four years rather than just during their first year. We are proud to continue my grandfather’s legacy through this scholarship program for the past 55 years. In just the past four years alone, we’ve awarded more than $1 million in scholarships,” Green said.
Recipients were selected based on their written responses to a topic that is rooted in the mission of the Foundation, “How will you use your college education to make a substantial impact in your community?” and a letter of recommendation attesting to their demonstrated leadership. Nearly 440 students applied for the scholarships this year. ••
