Danvers Historical Society Launches 2025 Scholarship Programs

DANVERS, MA — The Danvers Historical Society has launched its two major scholarship programs for 2025.

The Trailblazer Scholarship is open to a Danvers High School graduate enrolled in a secondary program. The Trailblazer scholarship acknowledges family trailblazers throughout the Town’s history, no matter how recent or from which previous generation in the student's heritage.

Trailblazers take risks and forge a path to make better lives for their families. They arrive in what we now know as Danvers from all over the world and some have been the original keepers of this land for over thousands of years. All are sharing their stories to enrich our understanding of our community and our outlook on the world. From Indigenous Peoples and Europeans who came to this area for its abundance of natural resources to those who have pursued freedoms, prosperity, and education, trailblazers have seen this area as a place to thrive and nurture their descendants.

Candidates applying to the Trailblazer Scholarship share their knowledge and experiences of how their family's Trailblazer helped them learn valuable skills, inspired them, and how related extracurricular endeavors contributed to the desire to pursue their educational and life goals.

To be eligible, a student must fulfill the following requirements: (1) be completing their senior year in Danvers High School; (2) exhibit consistent participation in one or more of, but not limited to, the following programs: Affinity Group, Prism, Model UN/Government, English Language Learning, Women of the World (3) be a candidate for post high-school studies/programs. Preference will be given to those exhibiting leadership, innovation, community service, inclusivity, and program success.

The Anne L. Page Scholarship honors Page, who opened the first kindergarten in Essex County at the Jeremiah Page House in Danvers Square. Around 1850 she opened a school for very young children between the ages of 3 to 6. She believed that in Plato’s words ". . . power of children's love of play should be used in education," and in Froebel's philosophy of creating fun ways to learn.

Page, along with Elizabeth Peabody and Mary Mann, founded the American Froebel Union, to advance early childhood education. Preference will be given to those exhibiting innovation, community service, inclusivity, and program success.

Applicant must exhibit consistent participation in one or more of the following programs: Danvers High School Life Skills Program, The Danvers Best Buddies Chapter, Unified Basketball, Northeast ARC Friends of Special Olympics-Danvers Track & Field, Speech, OT, PT, DECA, and Student Assistantship Program.

Application Procedure: To apply for the Trailblazer or Page scholarship, create a Going Merry account, and search under "Local Scholarships." Contact the Danvers High School Guidance Department with further questions. For more information, please call 978-777-1666 or email connect@danvershistory.org.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)