UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Lauren Young knows that she was fortunate to graduate with honors from Penn State without student debt. The 1989 Schreyer Honors College alumna, now an editor at Reuters, wants to help ease the financial burden on today’s students in the college with a new scholarship.
The Young-Lonner Family Educational Equity Scholarship is the result of a $25,000 gift, made by Young and her husband, Jonathan Lonner, an entertainment lawyer, plus a matching $2,500 gift from Thomson Reuters. That amount will be matched 1:1 by the University for a total endowment of $55,000 and support undergraduate students in the Schreyer Honors College through the recently concluded Educational Equity Matching Program, a priority of the University’s current fundraising campaign, “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence.”
“If you’ve made it to Schreyer, you’re somebody special,” said Young, who graduated from the University Scholars Program (the predecessor to the Schreyer Honors College) with a degree in English. “You should not have to worry about what it costs.”
The scholarship will be awarded to students who are enrolled or about to enroll in the Schreyer Honors College with a demonstrated financial need to meet their necessary college expenses, and whose gender, ethnic, cultural, and/or national background contribute to the diversity of the College’s student body.
Young, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, has served on the Honors College’s External Advisory Board and Scholar Alumni Society Board. Her desire to stay connected with the college and with Penn State, she said, stemmed from the relationships she formed with her professors and her fellow students, many of whom she still calls friends today.
“All the interactions I had through the program were so meaningful,” she said. “That’s why I’ve been involved for so long.”
Young enjoys following the stories of current Scholars and said she is hopeful the scholarship can help to diversify the college’s student body, which comprises approximately 2,000 students each year.
“Lauren is a longtime friend of and adviser to the Schreyer Honors College and a Scholar alumna who knows the value of an honors education and the value of a diverse and vibrant student body,” said Schreyer Honors College Dean Peggy A. Johnson. “We are so pleased and grateful that she and Jonathan will support the college in this way and help us support students in need.”
This gift will advance "A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence," a focused campaign that seeks to elevate Penn State’s position as a leading public university in a world defined by rapid change and global connections. With the support of alumni and friends, “A Greater Penn State” seeks to fulfill the three key imperatives of a 21st-century public university: keeping the doors to higher education open to hardworking students regardless of financial well-being; creating transformative experiences that go beyond the classroom; and impacting the world by serving communities and fueling discovery, innovation, and entrepreneurship. To learn more about “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence,” visit greaterpennstate.psu.edu.