Simon Youth Foundation receives an outpouring of thanks from scholarship awardees

A sampling of the dozens of thank you greetings
received from this year's scholarship awardees.

On the heels of this weeks’ 2012 Simon Youth Foundation scholarship awards ceremonies, which were held in Simon Malls in 41 states, this year’s 266 recipients will soon head to post-secondary institutions nationwide with a collective $1.1 million in their pockets for college tuitions. 

Part of their pre-college preparations included a nod to Miss Manners in the form of thoughtfully composed—and in some cases hand-crafted—thank you letters, cards and greetings to Simon Youth Foundation for their awards. Here are some excerpts: 

"All my gratitude goes to your generosities in assisting me with my postsecondary education. This scholarship is important because it allows me fulfill one of my mom's last wishes before she passed away from ovarian cancer back in October. She wanted me to attend a prestigious university and have a successful career. All my hard work and dedication to succeed is in her memory. I hope she will be proud of the person I become."
Takashi Yanagi, Urbandale, IA 

"The funds from your scholarship keep my dream of eventually going to medical school alive. Your generous funds are not just funding an education;  they are funding a life-long dream."
Austin Puckett, Brandon, MS 

"I have been involved in a variety of volunteer opportunities since middle school in both my school and local communities. As a result of this scholarship, I hope to continue my volunteer efforts including mentoring Philadelphia students in computers and robotics so they could have the same opportunities just as you have given me."
Jeffry Ng, Abington, PA 

"I cannot thank you enough for the generous award of the Simon Youth Foundation Community Scholarship. The Simon Malls have always been a huge part of my life. Many of the memories from my childhood are Mall based, from visits with Santa to walking the Mall on rainy days. The thing that makes this award especially rewarding to me is the fact that my brother was the 2011 recipient of the Simon Youth Foundation Community Scholarship, and I am honored to follow in his footsteps."
Casey Thomas, Danvers, MA 

"Thank you for taking the time to consider me and all that I have to offer."
Catherine Semple, Peekskill, NY 

Finally, in addition to his thanks, one student elected to share both his college admissions essay and his mentor's letter of recommendation. Here's a snippet of the recommendation letter, which reminds us of the It Takes a Village principal: 

"[Stephen] is bright; in fact, when it comes to computers, he is brilliant. I have promised him that I will never desert him, and we continue to work for a college education. He was recently been accepted into the Pennsylvania College of Technology, which is his dream school."
Arthur Bloom from his recommendation letter for mentee Stephen Rhodes, Chalfont, PA