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ZNEF Awards LARGEST Scholarship in Zeta History
Dr. Jacqueline Lawton presents Cayla Withers with the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated Arizona Cleaver Stemons Centennial Scholarship and ZNEF members Karen Gibson and LaTisha Perry take photos.
ZNEF Awards LARGEST Scholarship in Zeta History
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By Dr. Shirley Chevalier
Zeta National Educational Foundation Member
The Zeta National Educational Foundation (ZNEF) is proud to introduce Ms. Cayla D. Withers, first recipient of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated Arizona Cleaver-Stemons Centennial Scholarship for up to $100,000 towards her college education. On June 19, 2020, with horns blaring, headlights flashing, and blue and white balloons flapping in the breeze, a motorcade of officers, sorority members, and members of its Amicae auxiliary, traveled to Cayla’s home in Kannapolis, North Carolina. Under the guise of the local news station, WSOC-TV, interviewing the local student on the subject of “remaining dedicated to education in the throes of a pandemic”, International President of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Valerie Hollingsworth Baker spoke with Cayla via cellphone to surprise her by congratulating her on receiving the Zeta Arizona Cleaver-Stemons Scholarship. Dr. JacQueline, President of the ZNEF Board of Managers and Latisha Perry, Zeta North Carolina State Director, then presented her with a symbolic BIG check in the amount of $100,000!
Cayla is a 2020 graduate of the A. L. Brown High School of Kannapolis, North Carolina. In addition to being involved in numerous community activities, Cayla excelled in Advanced Placement (AP) and STEM-related coursework, graduating with a 4.0 GPA. She was the president and founder of the local junior chapter of the National Black Engineers at her school. Cayla is the complete package – outstanding student, personable individual, community conscious, goal-oriented. Cayla enrolled at Stanford University in the fall-2020 school year pursuing a Bachelors’ Degree in Aerospace, Aeronautical, Astronautical, and Space Engineering. Cayla’s life-goal is to achieve a PhD in aerospace engineering and work for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). “While we received over 2,000 applications from very high-achieving graduating seniors, Cayla’s story was special. We were inspired by her strength, bravery, and commitment to excellence, even when faced with adversity. That is what Zeta
stands for, and what we all should aspire to be,” said International President Valerie Hollingsworth-Baker. Since 1945, the Zeta National Educational Foundation (ZNEF) has functioned as the nonprofit (501(c}(3)) arm of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated with a mission of providing higher educational scholarships, health and educational programs, and research to improve global communities – making lives better for others through research and education. As Dr. Lawton’s strategic plan has involved embarking on a “Bigger, Bolder, Better” ZNEF, its goal is to establish ZNEF and promote the Zeta brand as an internationally recognized institution, and what better way to kick off that plan than to provide one student with a $100,000 scholarship in honor of Zeta’s triumphant founding members, known as “The Five Pearls”. The first, of a planned annual event, is named for Zeta’s first National President (Pearl) Arizona Cleaver Stemons.
The Centennial Board of Managers of ZNEF is proud to be able in 2020 to say, “This is not your grandmother’s ZNEF anymore”. Under the leadership of JacQueline E. Lawton, PhD., ZNEF International Chairman of the Board of Managers and the incomparable vision, focus, and commitment to the growth and success of “The Foundation” of Centennial International President of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated, Valerie Hollingsworth-Baker, the scholarship program has reached historic and national attention-grabbing heights. What better way to mark 100 years of Zeta’s commitment to scholarship than to award a single high school graduate $100,000 towards achieving their academic goals and to develop a process that facilitates securing, reviewing, and evaluating over 2000 scholarship applicants, resulting in a recipient of the caliber as Ms. Cayla Withers? This is reported to be among the highest awarded scholarships in the history of the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) of Black Greek-lettered organizations! The story was carried across the national media networks, including the WSOC-TV in North Carolina who filmed the presentation; WHIO-TV in Dayton, Ohio; WFTV-9 in Orlando, Florida; the Charleston (South Carolina) Chronicle; News-25 in Boston, Massachusetts; and the Sybil Wilkes (of the Tom Joyner Morning Show fame) online journal, to name a few.
Thinking “Bigger, Bolder, Better”, in addition to rewarding the Centennial Scholarship, at the urging of International President Valerie Hollingsworth-Baker, ZNEF allocated funds to increase its other annual scholarships from $1,000 each to a minimum of $3000 each. In 2020, a total of almost 3,400 applications were received, identifying a need for automating the submission, review, communication, and evaluation process. This attention to quality-of-service delivery by Dr. Lawton has resulted in the acquisition and implementation of an online customized scholarship management tool called SMAPPLY by SurveyMonkey. The application will facilitate the processing of large quantities of multiple types of scholarships over a reduced periodof-time and requiring fewer personnel intervention for several phases, while supporting single-point database archival, retrieval, and statistical analyses of relevant data. This system was developed and began utilization and refinement of processes during the 2020-21 scholarship cycle.
Being cognizant of the need to nurture and proselytize its scholarship awardees, ZNEF is also undertaking the development of a scholarship recipient support program. The support program design and components will consist of research-based skills, traits, and resources to instill essential skills and traits that nurture academic success in high school graduates, e.g., resilience, executive functioning, social skills, etc, including academic and therapeutic counseling support. The original intent is for services to be available on-campus and in concert with adult and peer Zetas in the community and the ZNEF Board of Managers to identify and provide services and procure necessary resources, e.g. books and supplies. This plan is intended to, not only provide for the academic success of the student, but most importantly, aid in the tracking of female recipients and reinforce their desire to become viable members of this community-conscious organization.
Just when you think it cannot get any better, following the close-out of the 2020 Centennial celebration activities and financial obligations, International President Hollingsworth Baker arranged for $125,000 of residual funds to be transferred to the “Foundation” in support of future scholarships in honor of Zeta’s Triumphant Pearls. What is better than awarding a $100,000 scholarship? Awarding a student a $125,000. Therefore, the ZNEF will award a $125,000 scholarship, the Pearl Anna Neal Scholarship, in honor of triumphant founder, Pearl Anna Neal in 2021.
A “Bigger, Bolder, Better” ZNEF, making life better for others through scholarship.
