Community and businesses celebrate scholarships with students
By Meliqueica Meadows
For the St. Louis American
After the annual The Sky is the Limit luncheon held last Wednesday at the St. Louis Airport Marriot, thirty-one local students are $1,000 richer and that much closer to achieving their educational goals thanks to the generosity of community members and businesses.
It all began in 1995 when Barbara Washington, vice president of public relations and special events at Mathews-Dickey Boys’ and Girls’ Club, created The Sky is the Limit career-readiness program for young women in St. Louis. Now in its 11th year, the organization has awarded $231,000 in college scholarships and paired 2,500 young women with professional mentors.
The Sky is the Limit is a two-phase career-readiness program that provides young women with professional mentors, scholarships and life skills to succeed both in their professional and personal lives.
Over 250 young women participated in the first phase, which is the Women in Careers workshop that took place April 16 at the new state-of-the-art A.G. Edwards Benjamin F. Edwards III Learning Center. The second phase was the luncheon, where the deserving young women were awarded scholarships and the opportunity to network with local businesswomen and were paired with a professional mentor.
Ladue News Magazine Editior-in-Chief Dorothy Weiner moderated the luncheon in the beautifully decorated grand ballroom of the Airport Marriot. As participants, scholarship recipients and mentors sat down to lunch, twin sisters and participants Adeshia and India Session played musical selections on violin as photographs from the Women in Careers workshop were shown.
Following lunch, keynote speaker Naomi Churchill Earp, vice chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, shared her personal success story with the audience. As the oldest of thirteen children, Churchill Earp helped her young, single mother raise twelve siblings with the help of social services. Because of her unique situation, her mother was unable to complete high school until the age of 36, graduating the same year as then 18-year-old Churchill Earp.
“I would be upset if I were not here. I am so impressed. I am partly intimidated,” Churchill Earp said of the young participants and scholarship recipients before thanking Barbara Washington, the mentors and the city of St. Louis “for this generation of young women that you are training. I am so blown away. Ya’ll are the bomb!”
The program has been such a success in St. Louis that Washington hopes to implement the program in other cities as well.
“What we want to do with The Sky is the Limit is to be able to take that project to Washington, D.C. someday, so that this program can be instituted in many, many other cities across our wonderful nation,” she said.
Jo Ann Hejna, executive director of the St. Louis-based Saigh Foundation, introduced the 2005 scholarship recipients. Scholarship recipient Shannon Roper thanked Matthews-Dickey and the donors who made the scholarships possible. Then, the official business card exchange between mentors and students took place.
“Don’t ever underestimate the power of networking,” WB 11 KPLR-TV Special Reporter Christine Buck said as she led the exchange.
“It is always a pleasure to see so many beautiful faces and so many people who are willing to be a support system for people who want to do something with their lives,” said Martin L. Mathews, president, CEO and co-founder of the Mathews-Dickey Boys’ and Girls’ Club.
“This is what The Sky is the Limit is all about: young people making their dreams come true.”
Washington presented Mathews with a $40,000 check from sales of her Calvary Lord gospel CD, which she created with the help of her son and president of Lead Work Productions, Jamie “King James” Dennis. Washington recorded the CD last year to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the scholarship program.
“We are pleased to announce today that we did reach the $40,000 goal for the scholarship foundation,” Washington said.
“It wasn’t done so that I could get a chance to sing. It was done so we could raise some money to continue the scholarship foundation for many years to come.”
Because of generous donations from major sponsors like The Saigh Foundation, A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc., Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc., BJC HealthCare and Reginald & Barbara Brack and many others, the foundation should continue well into the future.