Music education major Maurice F. Martin earns extra money performing with a band, “1959,” which is named for the year that Motown was born. Photo by Bob Christy, ’95
	Scholarship Recipient Gives Back Founders Scholar Lauren Moreno has led campus-wide efforts to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Learn how this scholarship recipient continually gives back.
	Celebrate Student Success Kent State embraces the idea that individuals, through hard work and intelligence, can do whatever they imagine. Find out how you can assist Kent State students.

Scholarships Open Doors to Self-Discovery
Students broaden their horizons with the help of private scholarships
By Megan Harding, ’83

As senior class president, member of the thespian and track teams and captain of the marching band at Conneaut High School, Maurice F. Martin could have attended any college he wanted. He began actively considering Kent State when he participated in the university’s Oscar Ritchie Memorial Scholarship Competition and received a renewable award of $6,000. Martin also received the Dolores Parker Morgan Scholarship and two awards through the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music, which provide another $2,500 annually.

Martin is just one of many outstanding seniors who are attending Kent State this year with the help of private scholarships. These awards help the university compete for the best and brightest students.

More than $1.75 million is awarded to students each year as a result of private gifts to the Kent State University Foundation. Most of these funds are generated by named scholarship endowments created through the generosity of alumni and friends. The criteria for selecting scholarship recipients often reflect the values and interests of the individual creating the endowment. For example, the Dolores Parker Morgan Scholarship, a renewable award for incoming freshmen, was created to assist minority students pursuing degrees in music.

“By spending time in college and meeting people of various cultures and backgrounds … the way you look at the world changes. The way you look at yourself also changes,” says Martin. He came to Kent State with a focus on playing a brass instrument, the euphonium. Martin credits Professor and Chorale Director C.M. Shearer for awakening his passion for vocal music. One day, Shearer related a personal experience of how he decided in college to follow his heart and focus on singing. “I felt like he was talking right to me,” Martin says.

Even with his scholarships, Martin has had to use student loans to pay for school. “Every year I see all the money I’m taking out and it’s kind of intimidating,” he says. Annual expenses for an Ohio undergraduate student living on the Kent Campus now total about $20,000.

As a music education major, Martin became involved in a number of performance groups — the Kent State University Chorale, Men’s Chorus and Ars Nova Singers — that conflicted with the hours at his on-campus job. “Now it’s a little easier because I’m a residence advisor in Manchester Hall,” a job which pays his room and board, he says. Still, Martin worries about having to buy a car so that he can fulfill his student teaching requirement and complete his degree in music education.

Martin works in the summer to save up enough to take him through the next school year. He also earns extra money singing at churches and performing with a band, “1959” (named for the year that Motown music was born), which he formed with four other Kent State students. Last spring the band received the top honor in Kent State’s annual Battle of the Bands. “Being on stage and playing to the audience is my passion,” he says. “Kent State has been a place of self-discovery for me.”

This chart details the distribution of student aid at Kent State. Student loans account for more than 1.5 times the amount of financial aid provided by nonrepayable funds, such as scholarships, grants and work study.

Another scholarship recipient, Lauren Mareno, has led campus-wide efforts to raise money for the American Cancer Society, an experience that has exposed her to new career possibilities. Mareno lost her father to cancer just as she was beginning her freshman year at Kent State. “Had I not received scholarships, I don’t know where I would be today, collegewise. I can’t even imagine the loans I would have to take out,” she says. In the 2005-06 academic year, nearly 63 percent of Kent State students used loans to finance at least part of their education. On average, students graduating in 2004 had accumulated more than $23,000 in debt, well above the national average.

Fortunately, Mareno receives annual awards totaling $5,700 through the Kent Alumni Reach for Excellence Scholarship, Trustee Scholarship, Founders Scholars Program and the Honors College. Even with this support, Mareno works 30 hours a week to earn money for living expenses. A senior from Louisville, Ohio, she spends most evenings as a supervisor in the call center that raises money for the Kent State University Annual Fund.

Although combining work and study has been a challenge, Mareno volunteers as a Student Ambassador and, for the past two years, as co-chair of the Relay for Life event. In April 2006, more than 60 groups participated in the 24-hour campus walkathon that raised more than $75,000 for the American Cancer Society. Teams pitch tents all around the track behind the DeWeese Health Center and take shifts doing laps throughout the 24-hour period. At night, the track is lined with luminarias, each purchased in memory of a loved one or in honor of a cancer survivor.

“I just love to see the support for the cause,” says Mareno. “It’s personal to me. I like to hear all the stories and realize that the fight against cancer is important to a lot of other people, too.” This experience has also shown Mareno a new career path: she is pursuing a certificate in nonprofit management, in addition to her psychology major, so she can continue raising funds for causes that are meaningful to her.