Chatham Resident Local Face of Rutgers Campaign

If you have been to the recently, you may have noticed a large poster on display near one of the entrances.

The poster, paid for by Rutgers University, thanks Chatham residents for donations made to the "Our Rutgers. Our Future." fundraising campaign. The goal of the campaign is to help the Rutgers students who receive financial aid through donor-funded scholarships.

The fundraising goal for the campaign is $1 billion, and donors from throughout New Jersey have helped raise about half that money.

Anne Sherber, of the Rutgers University Foundation said, "Chatham residents have been particularly generous during the 'Our Rutgers. Our Future.' campaign," and the donations have a positive influence "on their neighbors as well as deserving kids across the state."

One local student, Kevin Tobia, currently studies philosophy at Rutgers. Tobia, whose two parents also attended Rutgers, received a four-year Presidential Scholarship to pursue his undergraduate studies there. The scholarship included room and board as well as tuition.

Tobia also recently received not one but two scholarships to work towards a master's degree in philosophy at Oxford University in England. The first is a Clarendon Fund Scholarship, a competitive scholarship offered through Oxford. According to their website, less than seven percent of applicants for Clarendon scholarships are accepted.

The second scholarship is awarded through The Mica and Ahmet Ertegun Graduate Scholarship Programme in the Humanities, which launched this year. Tobia is among the 15 students worldwide to receive this scholarship in its inaugural year. The scholarship is named after Ahmet Ertegun, the founder of Atlantic Records, and his wife.

The Rutgers University Foundation featured Tobia's story on their website earlier this year. The poster thanking Chathamites for their donations to the university continues to be on display at the Mall at Short Hills.

According to Sherber, more than 86 percent of Rutgers students receive financial aid.

Tobia is hardly a stranger to prestigioius scholarship. When he graduated from in 2008, the Kiwanis Club of the Chathams gave him one of two $8,000 college scholarships awarded to Chatham High graduates each year. The scholarship consists of four $2,000 payments, made each of the four years the student is in college. 

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