White Plains, NY - Four teens from New York are among 12 legally blind, college-bound high school seniors to receive scholarships from The Jewish Guild for the Blind (The Guild).

Joseph Andrew Esposito of Armonk and student at Byram Hills High School, Daniel Gillen of Manhattan and student at The Beacon School, Chelsea Marks of Seaford and student at Seaford High School and Daniel James Solomon of Belle Harbor and student at Stuyvesant High School have each been awarded a scholarship of $10,000.  The GuildScholar Program scholarships are awarded prior to the academic year that begins September 2012.  The recipients are currently enrolled in high schools in the states of Florida, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Virginia.  The GuildScholar Program was created, in part, through a generous grant from the Jeannette A. Klarenmeyer Trust.

A teacher of one of the winners is also being acknowledged for his role in encouraging and bringing out the best in his student.  Each applicant was asked to write an essay about a teacher whose encouragement made a great difference in their lives.  The teacher chosen from among the applicants’ essays will receive a prize of $5,000.

“We’re mindful of the often unexpectedly large sums of money needed to accomplish a successful transition from high school to a college or university and we think that this scholarship money can be put to excellent use during this phase,” said Alan R. Morse, JD, PhD, President and CEO of The Guild.

“At The Guild, we are committed to working toward a more inclusive society. The GuildScholar program will help assure that more blind students are able to enroll in colleges or universities that might otherwise be beyond their reach financially,” Dr. Morse continued. “We’re not concerned with their fields of study, but we are eager to help in the education of this country’s next generation of leaders, a group that must include persons with vision impairment,” he concluded.

The 12 winners were chosen after a rigorous application process that included criteria such as academic excellence, community involvement, legal blindness, financial need and US citizenship.  The 2012 GuildScholar Program scholarship winners are:

- Tomàs R. Cacicedo of Coral Gables, FL – Belen Jesuit Preparatory School
- Reid Robert Creviston of Brentwood, TN – Ravenwood High School
- Joseph Andrew Esposito of Armonk, NY – Byram Hills High School
- Daniel Gillen of New York, NY – The Beacon School
- Thomas Kozlowski of Hillsborough, NJ – Hillsborough High School
- Zachary Robert McCormick of Tulsa, OK – Bishop Kelly High School
- Mary Margaret McLaughlin of Plymouth Meeting, PA – Mount Saint Joseph Academy
- Chelsea Marks of Seaford, NY – Seaford High School
- Christina Murdoch of North Wales, PA – North Penn High School
- Emily Pennington of Cincinnati, OH – Turpin High School
- Siobhan Rigby of Richmond, VA – Maggie Walker Governor’s School
- Daniel James Solomon  of Belle Harbor, NY – Stuyvesant High School

The teacher chosen to receive a $5,000 prize is:
Robert M. Fenster of Hillsborough High School

For information on the GuildScholar Program’s scholarships for the 2013 academic year, contact Gordon Rovins at 212-769-7801 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The Jewish Guild for the Blind is a not-for-profit, nonsectarian agency serving persons of all ages who are visually impaired, blind and multi-disabled.  For more information, visit www.jgb.org.