PIQUA — In light of the recent emerging health crisis, The Edison Foundation at Edison State Community College looks to provide a sense of certainty among students through scholarship support. Accommodating Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s stay-at-home order, The Edison Foundation has cancelled their fourth annual Girls’ Night Out—Little Black Dress event, which provides scholarships to local female students.
Recipients of the scholarship are selected annually based upon their academic achievement and extracurricular activity. The most recent Little Black Dress scholarship was awarded to Teresa Hess, of Troy.
Hess is currently working toward a registered nursing degree from Edison State, works as a patient care technician at Upper Valley Medical Center, and is a mother to a two-year-old daughter.
“When I started Edison State’s nursing program two years ago, my daughter was about 10 months old and I was working at least 20 hours a week. Now, my daughter is 2 years old and while I still work, I am able to work significantly reduced hours thanks to the Little Black Dress Scholarship,” said Hess. “This scholarship has been instrumental in my success in the nursing program by allowing me to replace previous work hours with study hours.”
Students at Edison State have had to readily adapt to the distance learning model that has been presented to them during this health crisis while also enduring disruption to their typical career and home lives.
“There are added stresses in everyone’s life at the moment,” added Hess. “I am grateful that the cost of my education isn’t one of them.”
Unity National Bank is leading the way in continuing to back the event by converting its premier sponsorship into a direct scholarship donation of $1,000 to go towards the 2020 Girls Night Out–Little Black Dress event.
“While we have a lot of fun with this event, the focus on women’s education is very purposeful: supporting women through full-ride scholarships at Edison State,” said Rick Hanes, executive director of The Edison Foundation.
Even though the event is no longer happening, its mission will remain — to provide a sense of monetary security to students in pursuit of higher education and improved well-being — perhaps at a time when it’s needed most.
“Based on the current economic climate, the Little Black Dress scholarship will possibly be needed more now than in any previous years,” Hanes said. “It would be great to continue this newly formed scholarship tradition for next year through donations made specifically for Little Black Dress scholarships.”
The Edison Foundation plans to revive the event in 2021, carrying over the “Dressed for the Derby” theme. The Little Black Dress Committee wishes to thank everyone involved with the event, including guests, volunteers, and sponsors–all of whom have made these scholarships possible.
For more information or to donate to the Little Black Dress scholarship fund, visit www.edisonohio.edu/lbd.
