The Anne Ford and Allegra Ford Scholarships offer financial assistance to graduating seniors with documented learning disabilities who are pursuing post-secondary education.  Anne Ford and Allegra Ford Scholars are students who have faced the challenges of LD with perseverance, self-advocacy, and a commitment to achieving their future dreams.  Applications are now available for the 2011-2012 scholarships.  We are pleased to present this update on one of our recent scholars.

I am beginning my senior year at Brandeis College.  I am majoring in History with a focus on early America.  I have also had time to be very engaged in my other passion: Shakespeare. 

I am heavily involved with Hold Thy Peace, the campus Shakespeare club and theater group, and will be participating in the semester show, Othello, as Iago. Last semester I was in the production of The Winter's Tale as Autolycus. Theater has been a big part of my life at Brandeis and beyond.  Last summer, my entire family was in a local community theater production of Fiddler on the Roof. I played Yenta and my mother played Golda.

Between school work and theatre, I am kept quite busy! I am beginning work on my senior thesis in History and considering options for graduate school in the field of early American History.  My plans are to complete my undergraduate studies and pursue my doctorate. I would like to work in the academic field as a professor.

I have availed myself of the campus disability support services for learning disabilities since my freshman year, and they continue to be a wonderfully helpful resource. Brandeis, and specifically Beth Rodgers-Kay, the Director of Disabilities Service and Support, provide excellent guidance, support, and understanding for LD students.  They help students develop strategies of personal management and self-advocacy while always keeping the well-being of the student as their top priority.

As I begin my final year at Brandeis, I am as always so thankful to NCLD for helping me to realize my dreams.

Lenora was a 2008 Anne Ford and Allegra Ford Scholar.  Read her winning essay, “Twice Exceptional Me.”