Investors Bank Grant to New Jersey Scholars Provides Tuition for St. Lawrence Prep Summer Program

Rising high school seniors enrolled in this summer’s New Jersey Scholars Program at The Lawrenceville School will not have to pay tuition for the five-week interdisciplinary program, thanks in part to a $2,500 grant from Investors Bank.

“This is a life-changing experience for lots of these kids. For many of them, it escalates their sights and college prospects, and instills a way of thinking they never lose throughout their entire lives,” said John P. Sauerman, Director of the New Jersey Scholars Program. “Donations make the program possible. This grant from Investors Bank is wonderful.”

The New Jersey Scholars program applied for the grant from Investors Foundation, which supports non-profit organizations that enrich the diverse communities served by Investors Bank.

“It is so important to nurture and encourage our brightest minds to continue to reach their full potential,” said Linda Martin, a Senior Market Manager for Investors Bank. “We are very proud to assist the New Jersey Scholars Program in doing just that – encouraging their students to think about their futures – without incurring any cost.”

The mission of the New Jersey Scholars Program is to annually reach out to 39 able and enthusiastic residents of New Jersey who are United States citizens and rising seniors in a New Jersey high school; the students come from a broad socio-economic, ethnic, and racial cross-section of the state’s population. The program creates an intense, interdisciplinary intellectual experience that will awaken in the students an awareness of their potential to achieve academic excellence.

The program teaches students to think in a new way – relating disciplines instead of dividing them. The scholars participate in lectures and small-group seminars where they actively engage with the disciplines, pursue research at world-class libraries and museums, and are assigned extensive reading. They are stretched as they hone their creative talents in art, music, writing, drama, and public speaking by contributing to an Arts Festival that is thematically related to the curriculum. They write essays and work closely with a faculty member to produce a 10- to 15-page interdisciplinary research paper.

Participants do not pay for the program, despite costing about $4,500 per student; the program relies on donations from organizations like Investors Bank to cover the cost. Selection of students is based on merit. For many scholars, the program dramatically increases their ambitions for higher learning.

Students are nominated to the program by their schools, and must undergo a rigorous application process, which includes writing essays, two letters of recommendation, and providing a transcript of their grades. For the 39 spots in 2015, the program received 275 applications. Each New Jersey high school may submit up to two applications. Applications must be submitted by early January, and students are chosen by early April.