Illuminating Pathways: How Scholarships Create Enriching and Diverse Student Communities

By Ed Finkel

Talent development is not confined to school-day programs. In fact, talent development requires a wide range of opportunities. “A lot of the research supports how important participation in programs outside of school is to kids’ trajectory,” says Paula Olszewski-Kubilius, CTD director. “There are so many benefits to out-of-school activities because kids get to be with peers who are as interested and motivated in a particular area as they are, which they may not get in their regular school. And often times, the curriculum is different—it can be much more active, and hands-on. … These experiences can be life-changing for kids. And it can really cement their notion of who they are.”

However, tuition is somewhat costly for Center for Talent Development courses because the program looks for and pays excellent teachers, provides materials that are often above and beyond what students get in their regular schools, and the summer residential component requires supervision, activities, and exposure to cultural events.

Given that such programs are vital to talent development, they need to be accessible. Therefore, scholarships and funding partnerships are critical to make these life-changing talent development opportunities possible for children from low- to moderate-income families, and students who may not see the program as something that is for them, Olszewski-Kubilius says.

“Scholarship support is needed for children who come from families where this is a real challenge for them to provide it,” she says. “We want to level the playing field so that it’s not just children whose families can afford to pay for it, or whose schools offer specialized programs, but it’s kids with talent and potential who otherwise would miss out on these opportunities.”

In 2019, the last full year before the pandemic, CTD bestowed about $575,000 worth of scholarships on 325 students. Those numbers have gone down somewhat due to the shift to online classes in 2020 and 2021; and in 2022, the program provided $350,000 to 182 students. But as interest in on-campus options begins to rise, the need will grow again. A gift of $100, for example, pays for a student’s course supplies and books. Give $350, and you’re covering tuition for a six-week Saturday program. A gift of $500 pays for housing for a summer program.

And it is a need, not just a nice-to-have, given how the range of abilities in traditional schools often results in advanced learners facing little in the way of challenge, especially in elementary and middle school, which leaves them unprepared to face the challenges that come later in schooling and life, Olszewski-Kubilius says.

“For some that happens in high school,” she says. “They haven’t learned to study. They haven’t learned to really dig in and work hard because getting good grades has been effortless. And for some kids that happens only in college. … We don’t want them to think, ‘Oh, I thought I was an advanced learner, but now I must not really be because this is hard, and I’m failing at it.’ ”

Among the established scholarship funds at CTD are: the Civic Education Project Fund, which inspires and trains students to become active citizens through leadership and service-learning programs; the Gary Greenberg Technology for Children Scholarship Fund, established by Northwestern University Information Technology, which provides $500 to pay tuition for a summer program technology course; the Sandra Dennhardt Technology Scholarship Fund, which pays partial tuition for a summer program technology course; and the Cathy Coughlin STEM Scholars program, which provides three years of accelerated STEM programming to middle-school-aged girls from the Chicago area.

The Coughlin STEM Scholars is an example of how “thinking big” with committed and passionate individuals can create impactful programming partnerships.

Cathy Coughlin STEM Scholars

Therese Fauerbach, CEO and board chair of The Northridge Group, and Phyllis Lockett, CEO of Leap Innovations, were among a group of friends of Cathy Coughlin—a Northwestern alum who rose to become chief marketing officer of AT&T Global—who established the STEM Scholars program after Coughlin’s untimely passing. Fauerbach says Coughlin had a strong interest in preparing girls, especially from urban areas, to participate in STEM during the middle-school years, so they can make the leap to advanced programming in high school and beyond.

“Cathy was a trailblazer at a STEM company,” Lockett says. “We thought this would be a wonderful way to honor Cathy’s legacy.”

The group’s research found that CTD was a proven program that “really rose to the top” in terms of rigor, Lockett says. “First of all, it is a competitive program,” she says. “It is, I think, a phenomenal gateway opportunity for young people to access STEM opportunities. It is connected to one of the best universities in the world. And they were seeking ways to diversify their student population.… We wanted to create opportunities for a broader set of diverse young women to achieve, and that aligned well with CTD’s mission and values.”

The six-year-old program has taken in a minimum of five students per year, for a total of 15-20 students at any one time, from Evanston and Chicago area public schools. Fauerbach says earlier entrants “are now going to a different type of high school because they had this coursework for three summers. … We’re missing that funnel in many geographic areas, where they don’t get into the high school or college because they didn’t have the fundamental coursework. They had the aptitude, but not the coursework.”

“We know the middle school is a critical juncture for young people to align their aspirations with the tangible reality of who and what they can be,” Lockett adds. “And the idea behind the scholarship is to start in middle school and create an opportunity for aspirational young girls of color to pursue STEM, and make that aspiration connected to real-world experiences that the CTD program provides. And the CTD program has proven to be a steppingstone for young girls of color to not only imagine what they could be, but to start applying some of that knowledge and building the toolkit, if you will, of skills and experiences.”

Fauerbach says she’s been inspired to stay involved in part due to meeting the girls and their families at an annual luncheon for the program. “These girls that come in, some of them also have siblings or cousins who come into the cohort, and oh my, are they appreciative,” she says. “Seeing the girls’ faces, seeing their parents’ faces, seeing them move from sixth, to seventh, to eighth grade, getting into the high school that was out of reach for them, and the confidence it builds, it’s incredible: ‘I can do this!’ ”

The perception is that, ‘Well, gifted students will do fine, so we shouldn’t put our money there.’ But it’s really not true. . . . Potential goes underdeveloped without these kinds of [enrichment and accelerated] experiences for kids.”

-- Paula Olszewski-Kubilius

“We would love to have more support,” Lockett adds. “We would love to triple in size. We know the demand is out there. We know the desire and the talent is out there.”

The issue of affordability has been a problem CTD has faced since its inception, Olszewski-Kubilius says, and the program always has set aside funds out of its operating budget to cover scholarships, but that doesn’t cover the full scope of the need. “Often times, the perception is that, ‘Well, gifted students will do fine, so we shouldn’t put our money there.’ But it’s really not true,” she says. “Potential goes underdeveloped without these kinds of experiences for kids.”

In addition to the academic development, talented kids don’t necessarily connect with many like-minded peers in their regular school settings, Olszewski-Kubilius says. “They need to feel comfortable being this person who’s maybe more intellectually oriented than other kids, or more interested in science, or loving math, or loving writing,” she says. “They need that peer support because it sort of like inoculates them against some of the impediments they might experience from peers, or within their schools.”

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