RHODES FELLOWSHIP
Frank and Rosa Rhodes Class of 1962 Tradition Fellowship
From an original endowment of $60,000 ($21,000 from the Class Gift Fund, $24,000 from six classmates, and $15,000 through a matching grant to the University) in 1995, the market value of our Tradition Fellowship is today in excess of $211,000, helped along by additional gifts from the Class Gift Fund and individual classmates. The money is held by the University in the Long-Term Investment Pool.
For more than a decade, the Class has been helping to fund one of the most practical national student aid programs on the Hill. In 2023, the Frank and Rosa Rhodes Tradition Fellowship will provide a bit more than $7,800 per year to students who fulfill work and volunteer requirements, as well as maintain a specific grade point average. But what’s unique about this program is that the monies go toward reducing student loans. In other words, if a student qualifies for four years, he or she can reduce his/her student loan bill by much as $28,000. Since 1995, 18 students students have qualified for support from our Class.
Here is the list of our recipients.
| Year | Recipient |
|---|---|
| 1995-96 | Lowell Frank ‘99, MD ’03. MD, AB from Arts & Sciences, MD from Weill Cornell Medical College |
| 1995-96 | Kelly Irvine ’00, Ohio, Architecture Major |
| 1996-97 | Frank Lowell ‘99 |
| 1996-97 | Kelly Irvine ‘00 |
| 1997-98 | Sahar Shirazi ’01, ’05 (JD). Beaumont, Texas; Psychology/Women’s Studies, Arts & Sciences |
| 1997-99 | Lowell Frank ‘99 |
| 1999-03 | Kylie Quesnel ’04, VT, BS from Ag & Life Sciences |
| 2003-04 | Brett Fedigan ’07. NY, BS Applied Econ and Management - Ag & Life Sciences |
| 2004-06 | Thomas Pastuszak ’06, NY/Briarwood; AB/Biol Sci/Arts & Sci. |
| 2005-09 | Betsey Howland ’09, NY/Canbor; BS in Animal Sc, Ag & Life Sciences |
| 2009-10 | Luis Corzo ’14, NY, BS/BAR from AAP |
| 2010-13 | Janelle Boyd‘13, NY, BS from Ag & Life Sciences |
| 2013-14 | Reinaldo Hernandez ’17, FL, BS from College of Engineering |
| 2014-15 | Diane Tarira ’18, NY, AB from College of Arts & Sciences |
| 2015-17 | Joseph Zolik ’19, Germany, of College Arts & Sciences |
| 2017-21 | Anja Samardzija ’21, College of Engineering |
| 2021-22 | Camilo Ortiz ’25, Columbia, SC Johnson School of Business/Nolan School of Hotel Administration |
| 2022-23 | Abbie Jobe ’26, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences |
Thank you!
To the Class of 1962:
First and foremost, thank you for your support and generosity! I was fortunate enough to spend the new year in my home country of The Gambia interning at a Montessori School, sponsored by Cornell University. I mention this to highlight how within my first year at Cornell, I was granted the opportunity to not only intern abroad but to also interact with an aspect of my cultural identity in a rewarding way through service.
This would only be possible with the Frank and Rosa Rhodes – Class of 1962 Cornell Tradition Fellowship I was awarded. I come from a single-parent income home in which both my parents are immigrants. My mother, my primary caretaker, is a Sierra Leonean refugee who is illiterate. My father suffers from high blood pressure, kidney failure, and diabetes which has made him not work for the past 20 years. For this reason, the determining factor of my enrollment at Cornell University lay in its affordability.
Thanks to the Class of 1962, I can afford the college tuition without causing more financial burdens on my mother who has had to put four of my other siblings through college. On behalf of my family, I cannot thank you enough for making my dreams of attending a prestigious university to become an agricultural engineer possible.
Sincerely,
Abbie Jobe