The South High School Class of 1957 Scholarship

Criteria: ($1,600 award per year) The South High School Class of 1957 Scholarship will be awarded to a graduate of Worcester’s South High School, with financial need, who applies to Worcester State University and is accepted as a full-time student. Candidates should provide a short essay attesting to the need for this grant and submit it with the scholarship application. The scholarship will follow the recipient from the time he/she enrolls at Worcester State as a freshman through either the completion of his/her baccalaureate program or his/her WSU master’s degree program as long as he/she remains a full-time student. The SHS Class of ’57 Reunion Committee requests that in return for receiving this scholarship annually, recipients contribute $200 yearly to this fund to help maintain it—and help future recipients.

In 1997, members of South High School’s Class of 1957 expanded their longstanding tradition of philanthropy to include future South High graduates who enroll at Worcester State University. The Class of 1957 Reunion Committee was inspired to start the scholarship fund in memory of fellow classmate John “Jack” O’Leary ’61, M.Ed. ’65. (O’Leary was a past member of WSU’s Alumni Advisory Board and the 1991 recipient of the University’s Outstanding Alumni Award.)

“Without college, you will go nowhere,” said Richard Perlman, chair of the Reunion Committee. “There are plenty of students at South High who can use a scholarship to go to college.”

They wanted to memorialize him, their other classmates who have passed away, and the entire class with the scholarship. They also did this in grateful appreciation for the wonderful education they received from public school teachers. Because the University figured prominently into the professional success of so many members of the Class of 1957, the Reunion Committee decided the scholarship would benefit future South High graduates who apply and are accepted to attend Worcester State.

“We just decided that we wanted to give back to society…in some small way,” Perlman said.