Framingham State Awards Inaugural Mancuso Scholarships

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Like many high school students during their college search, Olivia Renda spent a lot of time talking with her family about the debt she would face after earning her degree. So it was a surreal moment for her when she learned that she would have the opportunity to earn her degree at Framingham State for free, as one of the inaugural recipients of the Mancuso English, Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences Scholarships.

Renda, who is from Westminster, and Meeghan Bresnahan of Peabody, are the first recipients of the scholarship. The will have their tuition at Framingham State paid in full, including fees and room and board. They will have all four years paid as long as they meet the scholarship requirements each year.

Mancuso scholars will be required to participate in at least two meaningful internships before graduation and will need to complete a curriculum offered by the Office of Career Services and Employer Relations. They will also need to maintain a 3.0 GPA or higher, participate in at least one extracurricular activity each semester and write a paper at the end of each academic year reflecting on their career and academic growth.

To be eligible for the scholarship, students must be high school seniors graduating from a Massachusetts high school and plan on majoring in English or a specified FSU Humanities/Social & Behavioral Sciences major. Applicants must have at least a 3.5 recalculated high school GPA and demonstrate financial need.

“Finding out that I have the opportunity to graduate without any debt was like a huge weight
lifted off my shoulders,” said Renda, who will major in English and plans to become a teacher.

English Professor Halcyon Mancuso created the scholarships through a $2.5 million financial
commitment to FSU that was announced in 2018. There will be two Mancuso Scholarships
awarded at Framingham State every year moving forward. One will always be reserved for an
English major, which is the subject Mancuso has taught for many years, and the second will
rotate each year between majors in the humanities and social sciences.

“We know the humanities provide the soft skills that are sought after by employers,” Mancuso said.“Our humanities majors need to understand this and learn how to talk about these skills in the language of business.”

Bresnahan, who will major in History and is interested in one day working in a museum or
library, said the career component of the scholarship is exciting.

“Obviously the fact that it’s a full-ride scholarship is amazing, but I also see myself really
benefiting from the career preparation and extracurricular requirements,” she said.

Mancuso hopes the scholarship will remove the financial pressure from students to allow them to focus on academics.

“These are students who might otherwise have to work at a job 25 hour a week to get by and
would still graduate in debt,” Mancuso said. “My hope with the scholarship is that it will free
them up to experience a robust college life, where they can take advantage of the many
extracurricular activities that are available.”