By John Penney
j.penney@theday.com

Two local high school graduates are among the 303 students who will share in $1.1 million in 2024-25 academic scholarships awarded by the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut.

Saeeda Samed, a 2024 Waterford High School graduate set to study criminology at Howard University, received the foundation’s Waterford Scholars scholarship.

Josiah Hinojos, a 2024 graduate of the Ella T. Grasso Technical High School attending Pennsylvania College of Technology where he majors in welding engineering, was the recipient of the group’s Skip Thavenet and John Boyle Memorial scholarships.

The foundation, which serves 42 towns, through its donors has awarded more than $11.9 million in scholarships to 3,675 students since its founding in 1983. Recipients receive an average of $3,522 from the foundation.

“Within this year’s class of scholarship recipients, more than one-third are the first in their families to pursue higher education, a 23% increase over last year,” foundation Program Director Jennifer O’Brien said in an award announcement. “These awards can lead to social and economic mobility for many eastern Connecticut students with limited access to economic resources.”

https://www.theday.com/local-news/20240904/eastern-ct-community-group-awards-1-1m-in-student-scholarships/