March 26, 2007 — In coming years, up to six worthy students at a time will receive significant financial assistance at the Antilles school through a new scholarship program announced today.
The newly established Kimelman Family Scholarship program is being funded with an initial gift of $250,000 from long-time community benefactors Henry and Charlotte Kimelman and their children Susan, Donald and John, all of whom attended Antilles, according to a news release. The announcement came from Paul Horovitz, head of the school.
The fund will grow to $500,000 over the next five years. The program will provide financial assistance to students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
The scholarships will range from 80 to 100 percent of tuition, and carry each recipient through elementary school, the news release said. The Kimelman Fund will cover half the cost and Antilles will provide the balance. The first scholarship will be awarded to a kindergarten student for the 2007-08 school year.
Each year thereafter, a new scholarship will be awarded to a child in kindergarten until there are six students receiving Kimelman scholarships, one in each grade from kindergarten through fifth. At that point, an older student will "age out" of the program each year and a new kindergartener will join, keeping the number of scholarships at six.
"We want to ensure that the most needy young Virgin Islanders have access to the sort of educational opportunity that served our own family so well," Donald Kimelman said. "We also hope to inspire others who care about the future of the Virgin Islands to join with us and Antilles in reaching out to all children."
The program will help children get off to a good start, Horovitz said.
"The Kimelman family has provided us with a wonderful opportunity," he said, according to the news release. "In education, there is no substitute for a good foundation, and this gift offers us the chance to begin giving students that foundation at an early age."
The school will not leave students hanging after they age out of the scholarship program.
"Antilles will continue to provide financial assistance to the Kimelman Scholars as they move through the middle and upper schools," Horovitz explained. "We are committed to providing access to all who can benefit from an Antilles education. Antilles spends over 17 percent of its annual operating budget on providing financial assistance to deserving students. This is more than twice the national average of comparable independent schools.
"We do this despite having very little endowment, because of our commitment to being a community school. We, too, hope that the Kimelman family’s generosity and foresight will encourage others to help us build our endowment so that we can reach more students with need."
