Each spring, in memory of its co-founder, Jeanette Cartwright, H.O.P.E. awards academic scholarships to deserving high school seniors. The award is based on financial need and a history of cancer in the student’s immediate family. For those interested in applying, please download 2024 Jeanette Cartwright Scholarship.
The successful candidate must have someone within his or her immediate household with cancer, must demonstrate a financial need, and be accepted into a college or trade school. Scholarship winners must then prove completion of one year of the college or trade school of their choice.
Since 1995, H.O.P.E. has awarded over $80,000 worth of scholarships to high school seniors pursing a post- secondary education. Candidates not only demonstrate exemplary academic and extracurricular talent, but continue to do so through the lingering effects of their families’ cancer journey.
2024 Jeanette Cartwright Memorial Scholarship
Requirements?
Just download application, fill out and return to office.
Time frame to apply?
Must be returned by March 15th.
Are awards limited to certain schools?
No
Eligibility?
Consideration for this scholarship shall be given to any high school senior that has an immediate family member diagnosed with cancer or one who has recently lost a family member to cancer.
Meet Our Five Phenomenal Scholarship Winners
Once again, our stellar scholarship selection committee members had their work cut out for them; every applicant stood out in many ways. Once you read the following brief biographies of our winners, however, you’ll see what made them so special.
Anastasia Cartwright
If the last name is familiar, it is no coincidence. We are thrilled to be able to honor Jeanette Cartwright’s granddaughter Ana with a honorarium. And there is no nepotism here; this young lady is incredibly talented in multiple areas as well as respected for her compassion and wisdom. Grandma is looking down with pride.
Ana is a senior at York Catholic High School and has already been accepted to her college of choice, Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. Her fields of study are psychology and education, and her career goal is to become a school counselor or child psychologist. The college she has chosen is rigorous, but Ana’s academic challenges and achievements throughout her four years in high school have more than prepared her for further hard work. Her grades have put her on the honor roll every quarter of every year and she was inducted into the National Honor Society. In addition to maintaining top notch grades, Ana has played varsity tennis and lacrosse since her freshman year and has been working a part-time job since the summer of 2021.
As most readers of this newsletter know, Ana’s grandmother, Jeanette Cartwright, was Barb’s dearest friend and her co-founder of HOPE. She has been Barb’s inspiration and motivation for everything HOPE does and has accomplished. Before Jeanette died of cancer, she asked Barb to create a ‘vacation from cancer’ spot where patients could forget their illness for a few days in a place surrounded by nature. Jeanette had such a getaway cabin in the mountains where she went periodically to recharge. It took Barb more than two decades, but she finally made Jeanette’s dream come true in the HOPE Haven.
Ana never had the chance to meet her grandmother although she has been told how much she looks like her and over the years has learned what a remarkable person she was. Here is what Ana wrote at the end of her essay: “When we watch old family videos, it is clear how she lit up a room, which makes me smile. HOPE brings clarity that the grandmother I’ve never met had a love of people and a heart that wanted to serve, and for that, I am proud. My future holds this connection with my grandmother. She is with me as I work toward my dreams, love for others and desire to serve.”
Baylor Davis
One of the greatest compliments a student could possibly receive in a recommendation letter is the one Baylor Davis’s lacrosse coach, who has known and coached him for seven years, wrote: “Based on the
way he treats his mom and sister, I would let him marry my daughter and be proud to call him my son.” That kind of says everything.
Except there is so much more to say. This outstanding young Hereford High School senior is a scholar, an athlete, and a remarkable human being. It’s the latter category that is exemplified
in the glowing recommendations his teachers and coaches give. They remark on his strengths as a role model and leader, his work ethic, his maturity, and his compassion. As one close family friend wrote, “Baylor has a great sense of self, of right and wrong, of duty, honor and loyalty to family and community.”
In his essay Baylor spoke of
his love of the outdoors and nature. In his quest for his Boy Scout Eagle rank he participated in a 118-mile trek in New Mexico, and this helped him realize he wanted to pursue a career in the outdoors. Baylor has been accepted to Frostburg State University where he plans to major in Wildlife and Fisheries and minor in Forestry or Animal Behavior toward a job as a park ranger at a national park or a wildlife conservationist.
A regular honor roll student and member of the National Honor Society since his sophomore year, Baylor’s classes have been honors level and above, including several AP courses. In sports, he has played both football and lacrosse since his freshman year and been a varsity member since grade 10. In his senior year he was selected captain of both teams and named a Maryland Lacrosse Showcase All Star.
Baylor’s father was diagnosed with cancer when Baylor was 10. At first his dad seemed to respond to treatment, but the cancer spread and eventually treatments were no longer an option. Baylor watched his father deteriorate over the year and was 11 when his father died, still too young to understand the ramifications but old enough to realize he had become different from most of his peers. He attributes his achievements to his mother who “kept her standards high for our performance in school and the extracurriculars that we participated in.” Baylor will continue to apply those lessons and standards through college and beyond.
Madalyn Smyser
It is typical that our
scholarship recipients are members of the National Honor Society, the prestigious academic organization. However, Dover High School senior Madalyn Smyser takes it a step further; she is the vice president of her school’s NHS chapter.
And she is an active VP; as her adviser wrote, “Beyond traditional opportunities for service and extra curriculars Madalyn has consistently made herself available to her peers and teachers as a student leader who takes on the responsibilities and tasks that need to be completed to make a building run smoothly.” Madalyn has also shown this leadership and commitment in her role as president of the school’s chapter of DECA, Distributive Education Clubs of America, where she led a district-wide project to raise money for DIPG, a type of pediatric brain cancer. Under Madalyn’s enthusiastic, dedicated leadership the campaign raised $12,421.92 for the cause, which was the largest amount ever raised by the Dover DECA organization for its community giving project.
When she isn’t working overtime for others, Madalyn is achieving academic success in honors and AP classes and representing her school as a varsity cheerleader and this year as her squad’s captain. She has been a permanent fixture on the Distinguished Honor Roll and won student of the month accolades each year. She is also an active member of the Student Council and Varsity Club.
Madalyn defines herself as a “Momma’s girl,” and this made her mom’s breast cancer diagnosis last summer especially tough. Her parents are divorced, and as much as her full schedule allowed Madalyn found herself in the position of caregiver: taking her mother to doctors’ appointments; staying with her after surgeries; and helping her through panic attacks, even when they occurred after midnight. On top of that, Madalyn’s grandmother, her father’s mother, was recently also diagnosed with breast cancer, and for that reason Madalyn wisely had genetic testing done and is awaiting the results.
Madalyn has been accepted to Kutztown University, where she plans to major in early childhood education. Her goal is to become a kindergarten teacher, a goal she has had since she was a little girl herself. She loves children and sees the rewards in the career as well as the challenges. But challenges have only fueled this young woman, and her future students will be very fortunate to have her as a role model.
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Charlotte Crowl
Each year there is at least one of our scholarship recipients who wants to enter the medical field, and this year Charlotte Crowl is that person. As a future student at York College, where she has been accepted, Charlotte plans to go into nursing and hopes to become a nurse. This desire dates back the age of 12, when her father was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2017 and ultimately died only three months later. Charlotte’s love of science will make her goal even more attainable and benefit the people she goes on to help.
Charlotte is a typical HOPE scholarship-recipient well-rounded student. Her honors-level and AP classes have been challenging across the board, and especially in the field of science, where she has taken honors biology, honors chemistry, and a dual-enrollment course through University of Pittsburgh. Her grades have qualified her for membership in the National Honor Society and she has been on Kennard-Dale’s distinguished honor roll every year as well as a member of the Academic Letter Society the past two years.
Direct contact with cancer brought Charlotte to participate in her school’s Mini-Thon organization, and according to its adviser she has been one of the club’s most active and committed members. Fortunately this isn’t a full-year commitment, so she has time to devote to fall and spring running teams. Charlotte has run cross country and track and field since her freshman year and this year served as captain of the Girls Cross Country team and the Girls Track and Field team, participating in invitational, conference district, and state championship meets.
In these troubled times with people leaving the medical profession, it is reassuring that people like Charlotte have the desire and ability to step up and fill in the absences. Clearly she will be a strong addition.
James Crowl
No, this isn’t a typo, you are seeing the same last name twice. This is the first time HOPE has had the pleasure of awarding scholarships to twin siblings. Their academic and extra-curricular achievements are similar, but their career designs are pretty different. Where his sister Charlotte aspires to go into nursing, brother James (Jack) wants to be a welder, majoring in Welding Technology and Metal Fabrication at Harrisburg Area Community College. He likes the hands-on aspect of it and the fact that it’s just plain hard work, but can produce results that can help build up the community.
After a couple months of hospitalization from glioblastoma, Jack’s father finally was allowed to come home. Three weeks later, after Jack and his sister said goodbye to him when they left for school one day, he died. Although his condition had been declining, it was still a shock to the family, and it also hit Jack in one more way. Jack was in the Boy Scouts, and his father had taken him to meetings and participated in the camping trips, and all of a sudden that ended. Jack pushed himself to continue without his father and was awarded his Eagle Scout rank in January 2023, something he did as much for his father as for himself.
Track and Field is also an important part of Jack’s life, and he has been a varsity runner every year. His coach speaks highly of him, writing, “Jack is a great influence on others proving to be a good role model especially on the track team where he demonstrates, leads workouts and team activities, and motivates and lifts up those around him.” Jack has also been a four-year member of the orchestra, worked with Mini-Thon, and belonged to the Varsity Club. His grades have landed him on the Distinguished Honor Roll every year and he is a member of the National Honor Society.
These remarkable twins must make their mother very proud, and with the foundation their father provided she has raised two very special young adults. As Jack said in his essay, “Losing my dad to cancer was very hard on everyone in my family; we pushed through the pain and tried not to let it alter our lives. This is what my dad would have wanted.”