Peggy Madigan Leadership Scholarship Awarded to Ulster Teen
Published 05.21.2004
A Bradford County teenager is the third recipient of a scholarship established at Pennsylvania College of Technology to honor the memory of the late wife of state Sen. Roger A. Madigan, a member of the College's Board of Directors.
Jesse H. Holdren of Ulster, a senior at Athens Area High School, was selected to receive the Peggy Madigan Memorial Leadership Scholarship for 2004.
The scholarship is open to high-school students who attend Sen. Madigan's annual "Pennsylvania's Tomorrow Starts Today" Student Government Seminar and subsequently enroll as full-time students at Penn College. Holdren will be enrolled in the College's Toolmaking Technology major this fall.
The Peggy Madigan Memorial Leadership Scholarship can be used to help defray the costs of tuition, fees, books, housing, tools and other required supplies. Applicants are required to write an essay describing the community service they have performed and the value that service has added to the community.
Holdren is a member of the National Honor Society and his high-school track team. He is active in his church youth group, assisting the elderly in his community by doing odd jobs around their homes. He also has been on several missionary trips, including a journey to Peru when he was 15. On that trip, he spent several weeks assisting survivors of an earthquake and tidal wave, demonstrating his work ethic and commitment to service for others.
Holdren works after school and during the summer in his father's machinist shop and wants to learn new technologies at Penn College that can be implemented in his father's operation.
Holdren is the second member of his family to attend Penn College. His brother Aaron earned an associate's degree in Toolmaking Technology in 2001 and a bachelor's degree in Manufacturing Engineering Technology in 2003.
Sen. Madigan's "Pennsylvania's Tomorrow Starts Today" Student Government Seminar enables students from high schools throughout his legislative district to meet with elected officials, members of the state's executive branch, representatives of special-interest groups and members of the news media for a day of panel discussions providing insights into the workings of state government.