“It’s a Great Day in Atlantic City,” and for 100 Atlantic City High School residents, it just got a little better. On Wednesday, Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr., announced the details of the historic “Mayor Marty Small, Sr. Scholarship.”
The first 50 scholarships of $10,000 each ($5,000 per semester) will go to current Atlantic City High School seniors who live in Atlantic City. An additional 50 scholarships of $10,000 each ($5,000 per semester) will be awarded to incoming sophomores, juniors and seniors currently in college who graduated from Atlantic City High School and reside in Atlantic City.
All applicants must fill out and submit an application, a one-page resume, a one-page essay explaining how they will contribute to bettering Atlantic City and obtain two letters of recommendation. Current seniors applying must have an acceptance letter from an accredited higher educational institution. There are no GPA requirements.
This scholarship is a $3 million commitment over the next three years. The money comes from the Addressing Educational Disparity category of American Rescue Plan funds Atlantic City has received. The city received $33 million in ARP money, half used last year, and half for this year.
“Youth are my priority,” Small said. “It is extremely important to provide our youth with the necessary resources to allow them to succeed. This scholarship allows us to invest in our children, and have those same children get educated and return to the city of Atlantic City to better themselves. Any parent that has had to put their kids through college will wish they had this opportunity afforded to them.”
“We are extremely grateful for the mayor’s generous investment and commitment to the students of Atlantic City High School,” La’Quetta Small, superintendent of the Atlantic City School District, said. “Attending college can be a tremendous financial impact on families, so we are humbled that Mayor Small is thinking about our students. We ask all students who are eligible to take advantage of this opportunity.”
Small has formed a scholarship committee to review applications and decide who will be awarded a scholarship. He will not be part of the selection process. The “Mayor Marty Small, Sr. Scholarship” Committee consists of the following members:
- Mayor Marty Small, chairman;
- La’Quetta Small, co-chair;
- Pamela Fields, city employee, co-chair;
- Toro Aboderin, city chief financial officer;
- Stephanie Marshall, city council:
- Christina Noble, city director of youth services:
- Milton Chowdhury, city multicultural services employee, Atlantic City Bangladesh Community;
- Bert Lopez, Hispanic Association of Atlantic County;
- Richard Ney, Venice Park Civic Association;
- John Randall, First Ward Civic Association;
- Lisa Givens, Westside Neighborhood Association;
- Helen Kioukis, Chelsea Neighborhood Association;
- Alex Marino, Stockton University;
- Maryam Sarhan, Atlantic City NAACP;
- Natalie Devonish, Atlantic Cape Community College;
- Chaia Jennings, Atlantic City High School guidance counselor; and
- Bishop Robert Hargrove, Fellowship of Churches of Atlantic City and Vicinity.
The application can be found here.
Applications, along with all required material, can be submitted via email at greatday@acnj.gov, mailed to the Mayor’s Office at 1301 Bacharach Blvd., Suite 706, Atlantic City, NJ 08401, or dropped off in person at the Mayor’s Office on the 7th floor of City Hall.
The deadline to apply is June 5.
