Capitol event celebrates scholarship recipients, honors benefactors

"Winning this scholarship has not only lifted my financial burden, but brought smiles to my family," Avrum Gudelsky Memorial Award winner William Shaw said Wednesday (October 25) at the university's annual Scholarship Appreciation Breakfast.

Shaw is one of 55 Capitol students who have been awarded a wide variety of scholarships for 2017-18. Many were at the breakfast event, which gives scholarship winners an opportunity to meet and mingle with benefactors, trustees, faculty, and administration.

A senior majoring in computer science, Shaw chose Capitol for his university degree after getting to know the university while a high school student at Charles Flowers High School, which has an ongoing student internship program with Capitol. His experiences at Capitol have helped him develop his computer science skills to the point where he has been able to mentor others, Shaw said.

"Instead of me going to people for help, people have started coming to me for help," Shaw noted.

Capitol's new president, Dr. Bradford L. Sims, was on hand to thank benefactors and highlight the essential role they play in sustaining the life of the university and helping students achieve their academic goals.

The event also featured a keynote address by Thomas Scholl, a technology entrepreneur and inventor who founded the Hal and Kay Scholl Family Foundation Scholarship in honor of his parents. He spoke of Capitol's unique attributes as a university, describing it as a "gem" in the DC metro area.

"As a student, if you want to get a degree in engineering, technology, computer science, or cybersecurity, it turns out your choices are actually quite limited when you take everything into account: location, school size, tuition, curriculum, on/near campus living, online/in-class courses, and so on." When all these factors are taken into consideration, Capitol "comes out very favorably and often at the top," Scholl said.

Scholl's son William, who received his B.S. in cyber and information security from Capitol in 2015, then took the podium to describe some of the reasons he chose the Laurel-based university for his degree.

"When I first visited Capitol I came to realize it was the place for me. The things I liked most were the fact that it was close to home, I could study in my dorm room without distraction, and the environment was centered around people helping me succeed,” he said.

The Scholarship Appreciation Breakfast, held each year in the fall, honors the hard work of Capitol’s scholarship recipients and the generosity of those who make the scholarship opportunities possible.

Capitol is the only independent university in Maryland with a specialized focus on engineering and technology. Undergraduate programs offered at the university include astronautical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, and cyber and information security. The university offers a wide range of scholarships, including the Avrum Gudelsky and Homer Gudelsky memorial awards, given each year to students who have earned high academic distinction.

For more information on how you can support Capitol students through donations and scholarships, contact Melinda Bunnell-Rhyne, assistant vice president for student engagement and university development, at mabunnell-rhyne@captechu.edu.