Lenfest College Scholarship Program Graduates To Its Own Foundation

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Lenfest Vista Today Chester County Business News
Lenfest Vista Today Chester County Business News
H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest, media magnate and philanthropist is making room for a successor at Philadelphia Media Network, the nonprofit he helped establsih to protect journalism in Philly--Photo via drexel.edu

The scholarship program that has helped almost 300 rural Pennsylvania students succeed in college over the last 14 years is graduating to a full-fledged foundation that will ensure its educational legacy lives on for decades.

The Lenfest College Scholarship Program will soon officially transition to the Lenfest Scholars Foundation with a $32 million endowment.

“We could not be more proud of the students who have come through our scholarship program and the impact they are having and will continue to have on our world,” Gerry Lenfest said in announcing the change. “The formation of the new foundation will help us continue our commitment to students and schools in rural Pennsylvania for decades to come.”

Lenfest
Nick Parotta, Associate Mechanical Design Engineer at Tesla Motors.

2009 Octorara Area High School graduate Nick Parotta is one such success story. He benefitted from the scholarship, which provides up to $48,000 per student starting in their junior year, while earning a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.

During college, he also helped create the university’s Titan Arm powered upper-body exoskeleton, for which national and international accolades like the Cornell Cup, Popular Science Invention Award and James Dyson Award were bestowed.

Parotta now works for Silicon Valley’s Tesla Motors to develop automation equipment and manufacturing processes with the hopes of vastly improving the affordability and quantity of electric vehicles that can be brought to market, thereby accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable transportation technology.

“I have to thank the Lenfest Foundation for years of advice and support,” he said. “They’ve helped me get where I am today, and I’m sure will continue to affect my life for years to come.”

The scholarship program’s transition to a new foundation is largely due to the required future termination of the Lenfest Foundation. The new Lenfest Scholars Foundation, on the other hand, is expected to continue on for decades.

“The program is changing lives and changing communities,” Marguerite Lenfest said. “It has surpassed our expectations and then some.”

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