The Donald and Dolores Boyle Scholarship
To Donald and Dolores (Don and Dee) Boyle, both lifelong Hartford area residents, the importance of education was a value they not only preached but lived. They recognized that education, and the support that may be required to obtain it, can change not only a person's present but their entire future as well.
Don had recently dropped out of high school when he enlisted at the start of World War II, joining the U.S. Navy and serving as a hospital corpsman with the Marines. After his distinguished service, the GI Bill enabled him to obtain not only his high school diploma but his bachelor’s and master’s degrees as well. After receiving his master’s degree in education from UConn, Don worked as a 5th grade science teacher in the West Hartford, CT school system for more than 20 years. He spent many summers further educating children at the Science Museum of Connecticut in West Hartford. While Don taught children inside school, Dee focused her attention on helping their children at home, encouraging them to put their education first. Both Dee and Don would continue this focus on education with their grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and a number of lucky friends and neighbors. Be it through Don’s formal work in the classroom, Dee’s warm nature and never-ending support in helping other children in the neighborhood, or the constant encouragement they gave to the rest of the family, they contributed to the education of numerous others.
The Boyle family would like to continue this legacy of helping other individuals pursue higher education by funding an annual scholarship, in the hope that recipients will “pay it forward” as Don and Dee always did, and in doing so keep their spirit alive.
The Scholarship at a Glance
- Who: Connecticut residents who are high school seniors or graduates
- Study: Full-time undergraduate study in a STEM field (science, technology, engineering or mathematics); medical fields are not eligible
- Preference: First-generation college students
- Award: $2,500, one award per year, one-time
- Timeline: Applicants are notified in May; funds are paid in August
- Administered by: Scholarship America, which selects the recipient independently
Questions: boylescholarship@scholarshipamerica.org · (507) 931-1682
Full eligibility details and the application are available from Scholarship America:
We sincerely hope that this gives at least one person a chance to better themselves and to do as Don and Dee would have done to make life better for others.
Sincerely,
The Boyle Family