Students Find Valuable Tuition Help through Local Employment

Peace Village awards $7,500 in scholarships to graduating employees

Palos Park, IL - When Joe Labriola saw the signs promoting $2,500 scholarships for employees posted in the Peace Village kitchens, he knew it was an opportunity too good to pass up. The Carl Sandburg High School senior was planning on attending the University of Illinois Champaign/Urbana and could certainly use this addition to his tuition savings.

Planning a major in Mechanical Engineering to design and build affordable performance cars, Joe assembled the scholarship application, including his grade point average, ACT scores, three recommendations and a personal essay. His application, along with nine others, was then "blinded" and submitted to the Resident Scholarship Committee.

"The applications have no indication of who the students are," says Gerry Delves, Chairman of the Scholarship Committee this year. "The scholarships are open to all graduating seniors who work for us, about 30 kids." The scholarships have been awarded for about 15 years, first as two $1,000 awards. Those have been increased to $2,500 and this year, an anonymous resident very generously donated an additional $2,500, so the Village was able to award three student employees.

The roster of committee members is also a closely guarded secret. While some members have served for years, there are always new members as well. "When somebody likes a job here, others always want to be in on it," confides committee member Doris Fennessy. Committee members include Gerry, Doris, Annette Busse, Marilyn Dykstra, LaVerne Gnoit, Bill Kipnis, Mary Lou Skala, Ginny Utech and Mary Welge.

She recalls reading Joe's essay, beginning with the memorable line that, even as a little boy, "I liked the sound of my mother's car." "I just couldn't get over that," Doris smiles. "It really got me." His essay ended with the hope of "an opportunity to engineer my own noise."

LaVerne notes that the academic and extracurricular activities of all the applicants were extraordinary. "We just don't realize how much these kids do nowadays. We went to school, we maybe had a job and that was it. Now it is so different."

Marilyn observes, "All these kids are pleasant and enjoyable to talk to, but when you read their essays and see these achievements on their applications, you really see how remarkable they are."

The blinded essays were distributed to the committee members along with a ranking system to help them decide the top three applications. Grammar, sentence structure and proper spelling were very important but content played the most significant role in their rankings. "Some of the essays were just fabulous; these kids are real writers." Using the ranking system was not mandatory, but as Gerry said, dissenters "better be prepared to defend themselves." Gerry smiles, "We also take into account gut feelings."

If this all sounds serious, it's because it is. Committee members devote a great deal of time and thought to reading through the applications and essays, completing their rankings and discussing the results to arrive at award-winners. Marilyn says she devoted two weeks to making her decision and other committee members agreed. Applications and essays were read, re-read, ranked and then double-checked.

When the final decisions were made, Joe and Oak Forest High School's Nicole Travis and Sandburg's Jayme Kenny received official letters of notification and an invitation to a special awards dinner.

Jayme, described as "a woman with potential," will be attending University of Illinois Champaign/Urbana to major in Biology with the intent of becoming a Physician Assistance. Her mom Kelly believes Jayme's ambition evolved from her employment in the Menker Dining Room at Peace Village's assisted living residence, The Circle Inn. "It all started with this," Kelly says. "She just loves working with the residents and loves to tell us very sweet stories about them." Jayme volunteered as a Candy Striper when she was 17 to "test and see" that the medical field was really what she wanted to pursue. Her employment at Peace Village confirmed her direction.  

Nicole is heading to Augustana College in Rock Island, following her passion for global economics. With a 5.7 grade point average, Nicole graduated 18th in her class. A teacher praised, "Nicole is an excellent example of a well-rounded student and exemplifies the characteristics that make a good person." Watching the stock market with her father sparked her interest in predicting changes in the market. Dad Daniel smiles, "She has always watched CNN with me. She loves business, finance and considering the global aspects of economics, so Augustana will be a very good fit."

When the decisions are made, all the secrets can end. Committee members learn who are the winners and the students learn who sat on the committee. Committee members publicly congratulated winners, mentioned they were part of the decision process and praised them for their essays. "We weren't surprised at all about Joe. We call him The Wizard," smiles LaVerne.

The winners and their families enjoyed a special meal surrounded by committee members and residents in the Village Dining Room. Jayme, Nicole and Joe were introduced, one by one, by Harvey Leffring, CEO of Peace Village, Joan Bertucci, Director of Human Resources and Joe Ferrantelli, Board President.

Peace Village, in employing these stellar students and then having residents direct and decide who wins these valuable scholarships, has helped bond the community, each generation appreciated by the other.

Winner Joe says that being a waiter at Peace Village has been fun, and rewarding much beyond winning the scholarship. "The residents here are all so nice. They are just fun to be around." Ginny, across the room, smiles and says. "All these kids are so nice. We learn as much from them as they do from us."