May 31, 2013 2 min read

The Comcast Foundation, founded in 1999 to provide charitable support to its local communities and to empower and enrich lives, is awarding 179 Pennsylvania high school seniors – including a student from Greene County – scholarships through its annual Leaders and Achievers® Scholarship Program.

The program, one of the Comcast Foundation’s signature community investment initiatives, recognizes students’ leadership skills, academic achievement and commitment to community service.

Comcast, joined by Pennsylvania Lt. Governor Jim Cawley and other government officials, recognized the students at a special event held recently at the State Museum of Pennsylvania.

178 of the 2013 Pennsylvania Leaders and Achievers recipients received $1,000 scholarships, including Jessica Black of West Greene High School. A Reading, Pa., student was awarded a $10,000 Comcast Founders Scholarship for a total of $188,000 awarded this year to Pennsylvania high school seniors. After a prize drawing, 10 students were also given netbooks to use at college.

“Governor Tom Corbett joins me in congratulating these gifted students for their outstanding achievements,” said Lt. Governor Cawley. “We also commend the Comcast Foundation for its ongoing charitable support of programs like this scholarship.”

“Comcast recognizes the importance of fostering leadership and excellence in the next generation,” said Jim Samaha, regional senior vice president for Comcast. “These students are role models in their communities and at their schools. We commend them for their exceptional achievements, and wish them the very best in their future endeavors.”

The Comcast Leaders and Achievers® Scholarship Program provides one-time $1,000 scholarships to students who strive to achieve their potential, who are catalysts for positive change in their communities, who are involved in their schools, and who serve as models for their fellow students. The philosophy behind the program is to give young people every opportunity to be prepared for the future, to engage youth in their communities, and to demonstrate the importance of civic involvement and the value placed on civic involvement by the business community.

Since the program’s inception, more than $17.7 million in scholarship money has been presented to more than 17,000 scholarship winners nationwide.