As 2024 nears its final sunrise I want to share with you all one of my favorite stories from this year.
Over the summer we received a visit from a past scholarship winner. All six of us in the office were so excited about the visit!
You may be surprised to learn that visits from past scholarship winners can be a rare occurrence. The Foundation awarded just over $400,000 in scholarships in 2024, but this was the only visit we received from a past scholarship recipient.
This visit came from a 2020 Barberton High School graduate. This graduate received the Dr. Douglas A. Gormley Scholarship and one of our Foundation’s Cum Laude scholarships funded from our endowment.
They stopped in to share that the news that they graduated in 4-years (on May 11) with a degree in Exercise Physiology from Kent State University. They also shared that, because of these scholarships, they were able to complete a college degree without any student debt! Wow!!!
With college now in the rear-view mirror, the next step was starting a career. Using some of the resources available through Kent State a job was secured at Summa Health’s Rehabilitation Hospital in Akron.
You will likely not be surprised to learn that in this new role, the graduate’s curious mind persisted.
After working with patients who were recovering from neurological challenges such as traumatic brain injuries and strokes, a desire to learn more about physical therapy grew. Now a second degree in physical therapy is being pursued, with a desire to widen a growing professional skillset and expand on the ability to help and care for others.
What an inspiring story, right? Our Foundation team was thrilled to meet with this BHS grad and delighted that the possibility to go further in education was possible, in part, due to scholarship dollars from the Foundation’s endowment and Dr. Gormley’s scholarship fund.
But, there’s more to this story.
This graduate married her husband in 2023… whom she met in middle school at Barberton Middle School! Another wow!!!
Married with a college degree, you may be wondering what big life challenge could be tackled next?
“We told my parents we were looking for a house while we were eating dinner at a restaurant,” she told the Foundation team during her visit. “My dad pulled out his phone at the table and started looking for homes for us in Barberton right then!”
She said she likes living in Barberton to be close to her family, and because of the school system.
This story is what makes our community so wonderful!
Our goal at the Foundation is to use the endowment and our resources to create and strengthen our sense of community, to build belonging in a place we love to call home.
I cannot imagine a better story than Cassadra and Nathan’s when it comes to building community! Their story is an ideal example of a cycle I would love to see begin in Barberton – win a scholarship, graduate from college, buy a home in Barberton and build a family here.
The decades upon decades of people making this same choice are part of what makes Barberton so magical.
A sense of place, a celebration of shared experiences, and a desire to help others. These are the common ties of our community, the connection that binds all of us who are proud to call Barberton our home.
Reflecting on 2024, I’m thankful for this story – and hopeful to help enable and share more stories like this with you all in the future! As a father to four kids, I can’t imagine a better situation than my kids moving home to continue building our community for future generations.
I shared the news of one visit we received this year, but please know you are all welcome to visit anytime!
Until then, we wish you all happy holidays from the team at Barberton Community Foundation!
In Community,
Josh Gordon,
Executive Director
Barberton Community Foundation
