Mid-Atlantic CIO Forum awards five TU students scholarships

January 20, 2022

Samuel Peacock, Justin Snyder, Emilee Sheaffer, Georgia Coleman and Samun Shrestha— all seniors—were each awarded approximately $5,000 scholarships from the Mid-Atlantic CIO Forum for the spring 2022 term.

Peacock, Sheaffer, Coleman and Shrestha have been awarded the scholarship previously.

“Winning it again helped pay for my entire year and has motivated me to keep finishing strong,” says Sheaffer. “I am on track to finish magna cum laude with a 3.81 GPA this spring with motivating factors such as these.”

The Mid-Atlantic CIO Forum started in 2003 as a peer-to-peer regional network for CIOs and other senior-level informational technology executives. The forum, though independent, has a partnership with Towson University.

The forum provides networking opportunities for its scholarship recipients, not just financial support. It’s part of the organization’s long-term mission to improve the information technology field.

Hans Keller, the CIO at Erickson Senior Living, and a member of the forum since 2005, is the coordinator for the scholarship selection committee.  He says choosing awardees is always a rigorous process. 

The forum looks at the whole student, in addition to their academic performance, to ensure they taking active steps toward their career goals, he says.  “The most rewarding part of the processes is to see the caliber of the students at Towson.  They have once again created a challenging choice for the selection committee as the quality of the candidates continues to exceed our expectations.  It was very difficult to select a top five.”

The current recipients are majoring in computer science, business systems and processes or information technology.  The organization has awarded more than $600,000 in scholarships to Towson University students since 2006.

“This scholarship has opened doors for me to network with prospective employers,” says Shrestha. “I am very grateful to the Mid-Atlantic CIO Forum for investing in students like myself." 

Here’s how the CIO scholarship is life changing:

Emilee Sheaffer

“This scholarship has been beneficial to my family financially! My mother has undergone three arm and wrist surgeries, rendering her unable to work since April 2021. She owns a small business dental practice, and this has put a large financial obstacle on our family. Being awarded this scholarship has made me grateful and allowed me to contribute to my mom who works so hard to put me through school.”

Samun Shrestha

“Winning this scholarship has helped me financially to continue my education. It has also helped boost my self-confidence and inspired me to know my potential to move ahead in my career in IT.”

Georgia Coleman

 

"I am honored to receive this award as it motivates me to continue to work hard in my studies and future career. I am especially glad that I have the opportunity to attend monthly meetings with discussions of topics with the members of the Mid-Atlantic CIO Forum in my future career industry."