ALEXANDRIA, Va.—PenFed Credit Union leaders presented $160,000 in scholarship funds to the Esperanza Academy Charter School students with the top two grade-point averages.
The presentations were made during the Academy’s Friday graduation activities held at the University of Pennsylvania. Two graduating seniors with plans to attend Drexel University and Widener University, respectively, each received PenFed scholarships of $80,000.
PenFed’s Chairman of the Board Edward Cody joined President and CEO James Schenck in Philadelphia to personally congratulate the credit union’s scholarship recipients.
Esperanza, a faith-based charitable organization that has launched many successful education and leadership initiatives for disadvantaged young people, boasts a 2015 Academy graduating class of which 90% of the seniors are college-bound. PenFed began its partnership with Esperanza in 2012, and since then has contributed $400,000 in scholarship money.
To address the needs of underserved, low-income and minority communities, Esperanza founded the Esperanza Academy Charter School in 2000. Since then, according to its website, Esperanza Academy has been successfully educating a student body that is 95% Latino and 5% African American, as well as 80% low-income. Ninety-four percent of Esperanza Academy students graduate on time and 68% enroll in college.