Conway Mill Trust

The Conway Mill Trust Board has announced that it is creating a financial aid grant program designed to assist returning students to complete their high school equivalency certification.

The program aims to help students 19 years of age and older who have not completed secondary education to achieve General Course Secondary Education (GCSE) certification.

The program develops math, English and history knowledge and enhances the job opportunities for these young adults. Adult students who are not on any benefits have difficulty paying for GCSEs, which usually cost £150.00 through Belfast Metropolitan College (BMC).

An initial grant has been allocated by the Conway Mill Trust Board to cover the costs for full programs for two and perhaps even more students this fall. The grant program is named after retired educator Mary Mannion, who has spent a lifetime teaching children throughout the U.S. Mary has also been very active in her support of Irish causes and is a member of the Conway Mill Trust Board in Pittsburgh.

“The funding from this program will help to give our young people, especially our women, a much better opportunity to complete their education,” said Pauline Kersten of the Conway Mill Education Centre. “The opportunities provided by these funds will surely mean that some of our young men and women will now be better prepared to find employment that otherwise would have eluded them.”

The Mary Mannion Merit Grant has been established by the Conway Mill Trust Board, but local control over the distribution of its grants has been built into its structure. The Education Centre at Conway Mill in Belfast will have the responsibility to screen the applicants for the grants and to make the actual grant awards. Responsibility for raising sufficient funds will reside with the Conway Mill Trust in the U.S.

These preliminary grants are just the beginning of what is anticipated to be a much broader effort by the Conway Mill Trust Board to raise funds for these educational purposes. “We feel that the time is right to give our assistance with these pressing educational needs in whatever way we can,” said Conway Mill Trust President Bob Kaniecki. “I would like to call on our supporters to make whatever contribution that they can to help us in these important efforts.”

The Conway Mill Trust Board plans to monitor the progress of these grants and to look toward the classes in the fall of 2009 as a time when it will expand the number of grants available for awards. Outreach to other Irish American organizations, individual donors and supporters is expected to become a major effort for the Conway Mill Trust Board in the year ahead.

Tags: mary mannion grant