Representatives of the Riversville Foundation of New York met with their Elon scholarship recipients Sept. 13 on the university campus. L’Tanya Richmond, the director of multicultural affairs at Elon, hosted foundation officers Art and Mary Lou Thivierge and Larry Vellani, Elon’s director of corporate and Foundation relations, for lunch and an update on the Foundation’s activities and the progress of Elon’s Riversville scholars. The Riversville Foundation has made gifts to support three academic scholarships annually for African-American students at Elon.
A committee chaired by Susan Klopman, vice president for admissions and financial planning, has chosen students for the scholarships based on the Foundation’s strict guidelines of financial need, as well as demonstrated leadership ability, participation in extracurricular activities and community service. Scholarships are renewable, provided the students maintain full-time academic status, earn at least a 3.0 GPA during each semester and continue to contribute as leaders to the campus community.
Twenty-one Riversville scholars graduated from six American colleges and universities this spring, all within four years of entering undergraduate studies. The Riversville Foundation is supporting 65 outstanding African-American undergraduate students for the current academic year at 10 institutions of higher education in the Midwest and the eastern United States. The Foundation also supports a variety of philanthropic endeavors. The private foundation was formed in 2001.