Florida Single Mom Is Alum Scholarship Recipient

A single mother of three – her eldest serves overseas with the U.S. Military – has received the 2006 Charter Oak State College Alumni Association Undergraduate Scholarship.

Paula Smith, a resident of Cantonment, Florida, is a curriculum specialist for a Head Start program that focuses on youngsters with learning disabilities. She was delighted to learn of the scholarship award which is presented to a Charter Oak baccalaureate candidate who shows both academic promise and financial need. Her other children attend junior college and middle school.

Paula, who has been sole supporter of her family for several years, is pursuing a program with an Individual Studies Concentration and is on target to receive her degree in January. In reflecting on her job, she says she finds the opportunity to help empower, strengthen and uplift a child’s spirit very rewarding. Plans are already in the works, she says, to attend Charter Oak’s 2007 commencement ceremonies as a proud graduate.

CONTACT: Chuck Albert, 860-832-3860, calbert@charteroak.edu