Carleton-Dew Scholarship
In 2001 the chapter received a donation of $2000 from the estate of Elizabeth Dew. Marjorie Dew, was an audio specialist and teacher of the deaf in New York. She herself had been deaf since infancy. This donation was given in memory of Marjorie by her sisters Dorothy and Elizabeth; both lifetime members of Belmont County Retired Teachers. The donation was given with the express wish to offer a scholarship to a graduating Belmont County high school student to further his/her education, as a teacher, in some field of study.
Another donation of $15,000 was a bequest from the estate of Ada Carleton. Ada was born near Belmont Jan.10 1910. She taught at Harris School near Bethesda and Chestnut School, south of Belmont; both were one-room country schools. She later moved to California, where she taught for 25 years in Orange County. After retiring she returned to Belmont County until her death in 2004.
After this second large donation, the scholarship was then named the Carleton-Dew Scholarship after it's two benefactors. At that time, a Scholarship Committee of retired teachers from various school districts in Belmont County was formed. They drafted an application form for prospective applicants, and implemented fundraising projects. The first project devised was "A Mile of Pennies", for which the BelCoRTA was awarded special commendation from ORTA. Today, fundraising still continues with raffle items at their regular meetings and other generous donations by its members.
Yearly, BelCoRTA offers one or more deserving Belmont County high school seniors a $1000 scholarship assisting their pursuits into the educational field. After completing a successful freshman year, the student is eligible for an additional $500-$1000 in their sophomore
Donation in memory of Joan Russell
At the June 2021 meeting, a donation of 570.00 was made in memory of Joan Russell by Treasurer, Donna Kennedy. This donation was collected from graduates of Bridgeport High School who are members of BelCORTA and friends who taught with Joan and are also members. Joan was on the first scholarship committee and was the treasurer. She kept detailed financial records and was an avid supporter of this fund. Joan passed away on May 2 of 2021, and her friends and colleagues could think of no better way to honor her memory than by giving this donation to support the scholarship fund of which Joan had an essential role in creating and maintaining.
September is Scholarship Month
Please consider rounding up your dinner reservations this month or sending in a donation, it would be much appreciated. Your donations and raffle money help us maintain a healthy balance and enable us to offer more than one scholarship per year. Although we consider September as Scholarship month, please consider rounding up or sending in a donation at any time during the year to help support this important component of our organization.
Scholarship News
The 2022 scholarships were awarded to Chad Love and Lacey Dobson, both graduates of Martins Ferry High School and Brent William Smith, a graduate of St. Clairsville High School. They were honored at our June meeting. If their college grades are above a 3.2 and they are still in the field of education, they will be awarded a second scholarship next year.
Chad Love plans to attend Muskingum University while Lacey Dobson and William Smith will be attending OUE.
Pictured from left to right: Chad Love, Lacey Dobson, and Brent William Smith, 2022 Scholarship winners, and Rose Durant, Scholarship Committee co-chairperson.
