By Sivi Satchithanandan’15, Staff Writer

For the last 238 years, Newark Academy has been a leading educational institution with a track record for helping all students, regardless of socioeconomic means, achieve their full potential. Although it is already one of the most generous schools in terms of financial aid, its reputation is about to get a further boost thanks to a new program.

The ‘Newark Scholars Program’ was created to recruit the best and brightest financially disadvantaged students from the school’s founding city of Newark. The program gives students the opportunity to receive a Newark Academy education with all costs covered and without leaving Northern New Jersey in search of scholarships. Only students who live in Newark are eligible for this scholarship – this is the Academy’s way of paying homage and remaining connected to its founding city.

The program’s goal is to be fully endowed. With a donation of $1 million from a generous alumnus, the school was able to get the program up and running. However, the balance of $4 million is to be gathered over time through Newark Academy parents, alumni, and corporate donations.

With the pool of money that Newark Academy aims to generate, the program will be able to fund six students who will be carefully selected through a special process. Potential scholars will follow the same application process as all applicants, but in addition, they will have to prove their financial need and go through a second interview with the Newark Scholars selection committee. Given that these scholars will be supported through their middle and high school years at the Academy, the new intake will be limited; only a few from the expected pool of 10-15 applicants will be accepted.

Since these financial aid students may be used to a different school environment both culturally and socioeconomically, Newark Academy hopes to help them better assimilate through a summer orientation program. Currently, the financial aid families meet with teachers to get a sense of the school’s culture. Ms. Grider, who is in charge of the program, was able to offer insight into this latest addition. She has a history of work in non-profit and is the Director of Institutional Advancement at the Academy. She explained, the “summer part of the program is going to continue to evolve.” The E.E. Ford foundation has generously given a grant of fifty thousand dollars to fund this summer program provided that Newark Academy can match it on a 2:1 basis.

Even though this program is still developing,  it is a clear manifestation of Newark Academy’s “generosity of spirit” as articulated in its mission statement. As Ms. Grider said, “it’s pretty darn cool.”