CGS uses $336,000 donation for 10 full scholarships

Penn's College of General Studies announced Wednesday that it will use a $336,000 bequest from a CGS alumnus to award 10 students with full scholarships to the night school program. The school also announced the first recipient of the scholarship, Beatrix Szepesi-Holland, a painter from Philadelphia. CGS, which is part of the School of Arts and Sciences, is a night school program allowing adults to return to school and take undergraduate classes toward approximately 10 different degrees, including bachelor's degrees. CGS students pay a smaller tuition than day students. The money was given last summer as a bequest, or gift, in the will of James Murray Kay, a 1955 graduate of the College of Collateral Courses, the predecessor to CGS. The Kay Scholarship will recognize "adults who have succeeded in a non-academic sphere," CGS spokesperson Luise Moskowitz said. People with at least five years of leadership experience and a strong academic record are eligible for the scholarship. But the award is based more on the candidate's leadership and service experience than on academic performance, Moskowitz said. In evaluating candidates, the school will place a greater emphasis on the person's non-academic achievements depending on how long candidates have been out of school, she added. Although CGS students typically enroll in five courses per year -- two each semester and one over the summer -- the scholarship is designed to be flexible. CGS students usually earn a degree after between five and 10 years. The scholarship will run for as long as the student needs to complete his or her degree. Moskowitz stressed that CGS students earn the same degree and must complete the same requirements as College of Arts and Sciences undergraduates, unlike other Ivy League night schools. Many CGS majors can be completed entirely at night, although some require CGS students to take day classes. The first recipient of the scholarship is Beatrix Szepesi-Holland, a 41-year-old Philadelphia native. Szepesi-Holland, who began her career as an apprentice painter in 1978, opened her own firm in 1984. She founded Tradeswomen of Philadelphia/Women in Non-Traditional Jobs, a support group that grew into a resource network for blue-collar women workers in non-traditional trades. In 1995, Szepesi-Holland participated in an international tradeswomen's workshop at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. "The Kay scholarship provides such a wonderful opportunity," Szepesi-Holland said in a statement. "I have 20 years of work experience, but there's nothing like being in a classroom -- it's no fun learning by yourself." Szepesi-Holland "could not be a better example of the type of person we are looking for," Moskowitz said. CGS still has nine more Kay Scholarships to award for the fall 1998 semester and will accept applications through April 1. In order to apply for the scholarship, applicants must first be accepted by CGS, rather than applying for the scholarship as part of the application. But Moskowitz said CGS applications have a two-week turn-around, meaning that students who apply to CGS now still have time to apply for the scholarship.

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