This Scholarship is an annual academic scholarship awarded to young Orthodox Christian women and men of outstanding character who are currently enrolled in any accredited institution of higher learning including universities, colleges, community colleges, and/or vocational schools and who desire to serve the Church and others with joy and authenticity as they prepare for the next steps on their vocational paths. The Sonia Daly Belcher Scholarship Fund will give at least one scholarship of $1,000 or more to applicants who best meet the qualifications for the award.
Eligibility Requirements:
Be a communicant member of a Canonical Eastern Orthodox Christian Church.
Be, at minimum, a sophomore in the Fall of 2022 at a college, university, or vocational school.
Be a resident of New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island or Vermont) or attending college in New England.
The deadline to apply is August 1 of each year, and recipients will be announced on the feast of St. Sophia, September 17.
In our third year of the Sonia Daly Belcher Fund, with the generous support of our donors, we are awarding three scholarships. We are certain these future servant-leaders will serve the Church with love and dedication, working dutifully in our Lord’s vineyard for years to come. May God grant them many years!
Our first recipient, Miruna Eynon, a sophomore at The New England Conservatory, is awarded $2,000. An accomplished cellist and chanter, Miruna shares her love of music with others, “Each time I perform, with my cello, I am bringing my faith into secular spaces. Each time I chant in church, I am praying to God…every effort I put into my ability as both a cellist and a chanter is an effort to be a better servant of God.” Her dedication to her college parish was noted by her priest, who remarked that she “represents the legacy of Sonia’s generosity and places that into witness and services of the Church.” Miruna is also a Theophany School graduate!
We are also awarding two $1,000 scholarships this year. The first is to Katherine Panagakis, a sophomore at Wentworth Institute of Technology where she is studying Civil Engineering. She sees her studies as a vehicle to live out the virtues of faith, hope, love and wisdom and a chance to “improve civility in local, national, and global societies.”
Our final scholarship is awarded to Damianos Paschalides, who is starting his junior year at Hellenic College where he is a Religious Studies major and serves as the school’s ecclesiarch and who, “hopes to serve all with Christ’s love.”
2021 Scholarship Recipient
This year, we are honored and humbled to give a $2,500 scholarship in Sonia’s name to a worthy recipient, Nadia Ozone, who is attending Boston University for graduate studies in Global Marketing Management. As Nadia wrote, “I know that work is an opportunity to nurture the virtues and it is only one pillar in our lives, with Christ as the foundation of all of the other pillars. To ensure that I am living a life of generosity, service, and faith, I must work to strengthen my foundation in Christ…” We know that she will continue to serve the Church and others with love and dedication, working dutifully in our Lord’s vineyard for years to come. May God grant her many, many years!
2020 Scholarship Recipients
In this, our inaugural year of the Sonia Daly Belcher Fund, and thanks to the generous support of our donors, we are awarding two scholarships of $1,750 to two worthy recipients. We wish to warmly congratulate Markella Patitsas, a former teacher and now student at Holy Cross School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts and Christopher Abdelahad, a seminarian at Saint Vladimir’s in Crestwood, New York. We are certain these future servant-leaders will serve the Church with love and dedication, working dutifully in our Lord’s vineyard for years to come. May God grant them many years!