News Announcement
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Cheryl L. Kight - Vice President, Marketing or
Lynne Briggs - Media Coordinator
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Columbus, September 2009

DAYTON RESIDENT, RECIPIENT OF SCHOLARSHIP FROM THE MATHILE FAMILY FOUNDATION, PURSUING SPECIAL EDUCATION DEGREE AT UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON

Amanda Richey, from Dayton, Ohio found her calling in special education when her high school offered students the opportunity to use a study hall to work in a multiple-handicapped classroom.  She enjoyed that experience and is now a junior at the University of Dayton working toward a career as an Intervention Specialist.   She is supported in her studies by a scholarship from the Mathile Family Foundation through The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges’ Ohio Scholars Program. 

It had always been her dream, Amanda says, to attend the University of Dayton, and she appreciates the educational opportunities it affords her.  In addition to keeping busy with her studies, she works for the university in the Department of Educational Leadership, a graduate program for both teachers and administrators.  Through her work there she has met many current teachers, principals, and superintendents, as well as the professors who teach them.  “I have learned a lot working here”, she says, “about what it takes to be a teacher or an administrator”.   She also participates in the university’s Urban Teacher Academy, a program which places education students in the Dayton Public School system, where she is learning additional strategies to educate urban youth.

Attending the University of Dayton allows Amanda to remain close to her family and to stay involved in the Dayton community.   She helps coach a local Special Olympics softball team and says, “Working with the athletes on my team has been a truly rewarding experience.  It has been a wonderful opportunity, and I have learned so much from the people involved”.  Amanda wrote in the thank-you letter to her scholarship donor, “With this scholarship I am able to continue my journey to becoming a teacher.  Your kindness is truly helping me achieve my dreams”.

The Mathile Family Foundation is a 12-year donor to OFIC through the Ohio Scholars Program and over that time has reached a cumulative giving total of nearly half a million dollars.  The foundation directs its gift to students from Clark, Darke, Greene, Miami, Montgomery, Preble or Warren County.  

OFIC is the primary corporate and foundation solicitation organization for 34 independent Ohio colleges and universities and operates one of the largest, most comprehensive and diverse scholarship management services in the state.  OFIC member colleges collectively enroll 98,000 students and award one-third of all bachelor’s degrees in the state. For 60 years OFIC has worked to highlight the leadership, value and excellence of independent higher education and has provided unrestricted operating funds and scholarship commitments through funds raised in annual solicitations of businesses and foundations, thereby assuring continuation of excellence in private higher education. OFIC is governed by a Board of Trustees comprised of Ohio’s corporate leaders, as well as presidents of the 34 member colleges.

The member colleges are:  Ashland University, Baldwin-Wallace College, Bluffton University, Capital University, Cedarville University, University of Dayton, Defiance College, Denison University, The University of Findlay, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Franklin University, Heidelberg University, Hiram College, John Carroll University, Kenyon College, Lake Erie College, Lourdes College, Malone University, Marietta College, Mount Union College, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Muskingum University, Notre Dame College, Oberlin College, Ohio Dominican University, Ohio Northern University, Ohio Wesleyan University, Otterbein College, Urbana University, Ursuline College, Walsh University, Wilmington College, Wittenberg University and The College of Wooster.