Scholarship Recipients

Henry Barusevicius, III

Member Company: H B Electric Service
Pennsylvania College of Technology

Are you still in school? Are you working and if so, in what field?
My first year was amazing! The school I chose had a great program, and the teachers really seem to care about the students and their success. Most of the teachers really know their stuff as well and make class fun. I am currently studying Electrical Construction.

How did receiving the EAP scholarship mean to you? How did it help advance your educational goals?
Receiving the scholarship was a godsend. It really did help offset the cost of education. Good Education comes at a price. The scholarship helped me to keep more focus on school instead of worrying about how I will pay for it.

How do you anticipate the global pandemic will impact your educational aspirations in the short term? Long term?
Well, to be honest, once the school transitioned to online learning, I really was not able to learn anything. Most kids in my major, got very little, if anything from the online learning. If the school were to offer online only learning in the future, I will not be continuing my education.

Tara Bender Member Company: Rumsey Electric Company King’s College

Are you still in school? Are you working and if so, in what field?
I am currently enrolled at King’s College and I just completer my first semester. I am studying mechanical engineering while playing soccer for the school.

What did winning the EAP scholarship mean to you?
Winning the EAP scholarship meant a lot to me because a lot of the scholarships through the school had specific careers and none were directed towards a mechanical engineering major. So it was very special to me that I won a scholar ship that was specified for mechanical engineering. It also helped me out financially.

How has winning the EAP scholarship helped you achieve your goals?
Winning the EAP scholarship helped me achieve my goal academically by allowing me to pursue a degree in the major I wanted and the school I fell in love with.

Nicholas Cooper Member Company: Guy M. Cooper Mechanical Contractors Northeastern University

Are you still in school? Are you working and if so, in what field?
I am currently in school at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. I am pursuing a degree in Industrial Engineering with a minor in Business.

What did winning the EAP scholarship mean to you?
Winning the EAP scholarship was a major achievement. I was overwhelmed by the generosity of the Electrical Association of Philadelphia, and I was thrilled to be selected. It also was impressive to see how dedicated the Electrical Association is to supporting the next generation of technicians and engineers in their studies.

How has winning the EAP scholarship helped you achieve your goals?
The EAP scholarship lifted some of the financial burden off of me and my family. It has also enabled me to attend one of the premier research universities in the United States. I owe the Electrical Association a great deal of gratitude, as this scholarship is helping me to achieve my goals and advance my learning at the next level. The scholarship assisted in affording me the opportunity to get a highly technical education in my desired field.

Joshua Maldonado-Santiago Member Company: Ray Litwin's HVAC Pennsylvania State University

Are you still in school? Are you working and if so, in what field?
As of now I am currently a junior at Penn State Majoring in Telecommunications with a Minor in Military Studies. Both classes and extracurricular activities are going extremely well for me. I am always busy because at Penn State I am a Cadet in the Air Force ROTC program so that requires me to accomplish a lot of duties in addition to all of my full time student responsibilities. ROTC paired with classes has really been beneficial for me because it has helped me see the bigger picture for why things are done the way they are.

Moreover, this program has taught me a lot, the biggest ones being time-management skills, root cause analysis skills and furthermore, leadership. This past fall semester was one of the busiest up to date for me. After three weeks of extensive military training over the summer in Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama and Camp Shelby in Mississippi, I graduated top third of the training flight with the highest fitness score in the entire training class.

This grand accomplishment led to a promotion within ROTC to Cadet Captain in addition to holding the Position of Executive Officer for a wing of over 140 Cadets.

I spent a lot of time in the semester working on projects monitored by Air force Captains and Colonels. My position required a lot out of me, by no means was it easy. Sometimes we had problems within our unit and I had to be the one to figure out why things were happening in addition to explaining to those below me why it was that I was doing what I was doing. From this I learned that sometimes you have to do your job regardless of whether people like the decisions or not. You have a bigger mission to accomplish and objectives to meet along that way, if something breaks down a long that way, as I came to realize, you need to be versatile and fix the problems that arise in order to ensure that what you set out to accomplish does in fact get accomplished. Coming hand in hand with this, I picked up a few leadership qualities that have really helped me. This past semester taught me that sometimes you have to be strong and be the calm authoritative figure that people look up to during rough times. It has taught me that you have to remain extremely humble, you have sympathize and more importantly you have to be willing to do whatever it takes to keep your people happy and on track towards the end result. Being the Executive Officer for the Air Force ROTC program at Penn State for one semester was an extreme honor and privilege. I learned so much that could be applied to my classes. , I am still a full time student with above a 3.0 GPA, I have classes Monday through Friday and I also work a part time job for the Marketing Department at Penn State four times a week. As you can see, this past semester was very rigorous, but my passion and love for what I do kept me positive and kept me pushing forward regardless of what was going on. You have to look at the bigger picture, and you have to stay focused and tackle everything else one step at a time.

Elizabeth Morris Member Company: Royal Electric Supply Company Stevens Institute of Technology

Are you still in school? Are you working and if so, in what field?
I graduated this past May 2017 with my Bachelors of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering and minor in Green Engineering. I was fortunate enough to complete most of my graduate studies during my undergraduate career, so I continued my studies at Stevens Institute of Technology and will graduate with my Masters of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering this December 2017 with a track in Manufacturing. I have accepted a full time offer as a Materials, Processes and Physics Engineer at Boeing, Philadelphia and am excited to start this upcoming February 2018!

What did winning the EAP scholarship mean to you?
Winning the EAP scholarship meant I had the resources to continue my studies! I was able to remain near my school in Hoboken and take the mandatory in-person classes I would have been unable to take online. I was also able to focus on my studies without overloading or seeking out additional jobs.

How has winning the EAP scholarship helped you achieve your goals?
Winning the EAP scholarship directly contributed to my ability to achieve my goal of graduating with my Bachelors, Masters, and minor in less than five years. The scholarship also gave me the opportunity to focus on my schoolwork, and I was able to graduate with High Honors! The generosity shown by the Electrical Association of Philadelphia was much appreciated; thank you so much!

Nicole deFuria Nicholson Member Company: O’Brien Heating & Cooling Cornell University

Are you still in school? Are you working and if so, in what field?
I am the Director of Northeast Real Estate Operations for Verizon. I have control over the day to day operations for a diverse portfolio of almost 50M SF, including administrative, work centers and technical locations –including HVAC,electrical, plumbing, elevators, etc.

What did winning the EAP scholarship mean to you?
I was very proud to receive the EAP scholarship. The EAP scholarship not only helped me start my path by attending such a great university, but I also like to think it had an influence on where I have ended up. The Electrical Association of Philadelphia was always something my father and grandfather were involved in, but I never realized I would end up so closely aligned with the goals and objectives of the Association in my own career. Affording these types of opportunities to the next generation for higher education, especially when in the highly sought after technical fields, is invaluable.

How has winning the EAP scholarship helped you achieve your goals?
When preparing for college and working the financials, every dollar helps. This scholarship assisted in making it possible for me to attend my dream school which set me on my path to my career now at Verizon.

Jeffrey Brown Member Company: Illuminations Penn State University

Are you still in school? Are you working and if so, in what field?
Following graduation from Penn State’s five-year Bachelor of Architecture program, I moved to Greenwich, Connecticut to work for a prominent classically-inspired residential design firm. After gaining architectural licensure, I pursued a Master of Science in Real Estate Development at Columbia University and joined the acquisitions and development team for a local real estate investor and apartment operator.

What did winning the EAP scholarship mean to you?
Being recognized for hard work and determination fueled my passion for studying architecture and helped to ensure I didn’t have to worry about the financial burden of higher education. Knowing that the Electrical Association of Philadelphia respected these values was encouraging.

How has winning the EAP scholarship helped you achieve your goals?
With the assistance of the Electrical Association of Philadelphia, attending Penn State allowed me to pursue my passion for architecture and urban design and that has led to a successful start to a career that excites me more and more every day.