The Ladies’s Jewellery Affiliation Basis declares its scholarship recipients, who will obtain a complete of $57,500 in scholarship funds for the 2022-2023 program yr.
Funds for WJA Basis scholarships are raised by particular person donations and varied fundraising occasions and initiatives held all year long, together with #GivingTuesday, a world generosity motion unleashing the facility of individuals and organizations to remodel their communities and the world.
Scholarship winners acquired awards in six totally different classes. These embody the Cindy Edelstein Jewellery Design Scholarship, the Gabriel Love Basis Scholarship, Designer Class Scholarship, and Designer/Creator Scholarship. WJA Basis additionally launched two new awards this yr – the Radiant Minds Expertise Scholarship and WJA Range Scholarships for GIA Schooling.
The inaugural Radiant Minds Expertise Scholarship has been awarded to Brittany Ylanlan, a pupil learning Pc Programming and Cellular Purposes Growth at Tidewater Neighborhood School. This scholarship was created collaboratively between WJA Basis, Jewelers Mutual Group, and Black in Jewellery Coalition, with the aim of offering girls of colour the schooling they must be profitable in tech-related jobs inside the jewellery and watch business. The recipient receives funding for a coaching or certification program targeted on software program engineering, together with user-experience design, information analytics, and entrance and back-end design and net improvement, at a college of their alternative, permitted by the scholarship committee.
WJA Basis acquired a beneficiant pledge from the Gemological Institute of America to fund new scholarships for college kids from underrepresented communities, together with BIPOC and LGBTQIA+, wishing to take on-campus or eLearning programs by GIA Schooling. Recipients are in a position to choose from a wide range of choices, together with GIA’s on-line Utilized Jewellery Skilled (AJP) diploma program and Diamond Necessities and Diamonds and Diamond Grading programs, or its on-campus Graduate Coloured Stones diploma program and Jewellery Design certificates course. This yr, scholarships had been awarded to Cloyette Harris, Koolebogile Veronicah Mosweu, Grace Omwanza, Christina Soto, Ashley Tien, and Rebecca Wagner.
The Gabriel Love Basis Scholarship has been awarded to Oksana Membreno, a pupil on the Gemological Institute of America. The $5,000 scholarship was established and funded by the Gabriel Love Basis of Gabriel & Co., the New York‐based mostly effective jewellery model. The WJA scholarship offers funding for college kids who wish to obtain skilled progress inside the jewellery business, and who plan to make use of their careers in jewellery to enhance communities and take part in charitable efforts.
The Cindy Edelstein Scholarship, created to honor the legacy of long-time WJA Board member Cindy Edelstein, has been awarded to Gabrielle Saunders, a pupil on the Gemological Institute of America. This scholarship is given in reminiscence of Cindy, who was the jewellery business’s passionate advocate for jewellery designers coming into the sector. For that cause, the $5,000 scholarship is awarded to rising effective jewellery designers or artisans and memorializes Edelstein’s tireless pursuit of training, mentoring, and training these entrepreneurs. The recipient can pursue jewellery design, metalsmithing, or enterprise programs, offering they’re targeted on enhancing their artistry and/or their designer jewellery enterprise.
WJA Basis additionally offers varied scholarships to college students enrolled in jewellery or metalsmithing packages at accredited schools, universities, or coaching colleges between August 1, 2022, and July 31, 2023. This yr’s Designer Class winner is Emma McSallis (Maine School of Artwork and Design), and the Designer/Creator Class winner is Kindred Lubeck (Gemological Institute of America).
