SUNY Poly alumna makes $75K donation for scholarship in honor of her grandmothers

MARCY, N.Y. — A alumna of SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) has donated $75,000 to the school toward the creation of an endowed scholarship that the SUNY Poly Foundation will administer.

The alumna wishes to remain anonymous, SUNY Poly said in a news release issued Tuesday.

The gift comes with the stipulation that SUNY Poly provides a $25,000 matching gift to make the total endowment $100,000.

The donor attended SUNY Poly as a transfer student when the school was previously known as Upper Division College, the university said.

The scholarship will be known as the Zeman Vdoviak Scholarship, in memory of the donor’s grandmothers. They were born in Slovakia and immigrated to America, settling in the Mohawk Valley where they raised their families and continued their childhood friendship for the rest of their lives.

The donor’s planned gift will be designated to support SUNY Poly students who transfer into the institution to complete their degree, the school said.

“Naming it after my grandmothers is a way to honor them, as they always encouraged us to do the best we could in school and were incredibly supportive of the fact that public education was available here in America. The idea of a free, public education just amazed them,” the donor said in the SUNY Poly news release. “What I would hope is that it will give some peace of mind to a transfer student as they finish up their degree without the worry of going into more debt.”

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com