News

Open Choice Awards Annual Scholarships, Book Award

(Hartford, CT) The Hartford Region Open Choice Program has awarded college scholarships to five deserving students.

K’ylah Flynn, Amber Owens, and Kaivon Glover are recipients of the Mary Carroll-Kennedy Scholarship, an annual scholarship created in 2002 in honor of the founding director of the Open Choice program, then known as Project Concern. They each received $4,000 scholarships. Heath Pitt and Aleysia Green received a book award created this year in honor of Marjorie Little, a parent and long-time employee of Project Concern, and received $1,000 each.
The Open Choice program, formerly known as Project Concern, has helped students in Greater Hartford for 50 years. It allows Hartford students the opportunity to attend public schools in suburban towns and suburban students the opportunity to attend public schools in Hartford. The goals are to improve academic achievement; reduce racial, ethnic, and economic isolation; and provide all children with a choice of high-quality educational programs.

Through the Open Choice program, Flynn was able to attend the Global Communications Academy in Hartford. In addition to her high school classes, she took courses at Capital Community College and was involved in many extracurricular activities, including her school’s S.T.E.M. Club and student government. She regularly helped her classmates with math problems, and she volunteers for local organizations, such as the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford and the Family Worship Center Food Pantry in Hartford.

Flynn will study biology at Springfield College.

Glover is a graduate of Granby Memorial High School. He is a founding member of the school’s business club, and he played basketball. Outside of school, Glover, who will major in finance at Quinnipiac University, is an active member of his church and is an ambassador for the Open Choice program.

Owens attended Farmington High School and will study business at Marist College in New York. She was a member of the school’s National Honor Society and was involved in many afterschool activities, including her school’s student ambassador program and Interact, a club that works on community-based projects.

Green, a student at Wethersfield High School, will attend UConn to study education. During her high school career, she developed her leadership skills by participating in the Capital Region Interdistrict Leadership Academy. She played junior variety girls volleyball and track and field and was a member of Young Democrats and her school’s Unity Team, a group that advocates for diversity and inclusion. She also volunteers in her community by helping at the polls on Election Day and participating in food drives and breast cancer awareness evens.

Pitt, who attended West Hartford schools from kindergarten through high school, is a graduate of Hall High School. There, he worked on the stage craft team for high school performances and was captain of his school’s indoor and outdoor track and field teams.

Pitt will attend the University of Hartford and hopes to become a human rights lawyer.

To help fund these scholarships for Open Choice students, please visit www.crec.org/foundation.