Two former student executive board members at Fox Chapel Area High School have earned 2022 William and Susan DeLaney Scholarships.
Anthony Miles and Gabrielle Uku were each awarded $1,000. They each served on the Fox Chapel Area High School Black Student Union during their senior year. Both graduated in 2022.
The DeLaney scholarship fund provides support to African American students in Allegheny County seeking post-secondary educations.
Miles attends South Carolina State University in Orangeburg and plans to pursue a career in wealth management and personal finance.
“It was an honor being selected as one of the recipients, and I’m glad they saw my passion for entrepreneurship, which is what the scholarship stands for,” Miles said.
Miles hopes to earn an MBA and described himself as passionate about personal finance.
“Particularly, personal finance as it relates to financial education. Currently, less than half of the states within the U.S. require financial education. I believe financial education should be required in all high schools across the U.S.,” Miles said.
Uku is majoring in economics and public health at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
She’s hoping to maximize the resources at Drexel, including enrolling in its advanced experiential cooperative learning program that provides up to 18 months of job experience during college.
“My education at Drexel University will allow me to develop methods for helping those that I’ll proceed to aid as I wish to participate in public policy formation,” Uku said.
Uku has selected studies that will address grievances that marginalized communities have formed due to disenfranchisement.
“In post-secondary education, I look forward to being taken beyond the sheath of neutrality that external pressures have encouraged students to exist behind. I have accordingly situated myself amongst and created environments in which vital progression can occur,” she said.
Susan A. DeLaney, the widow of the late William Delaney of Monroeville created the Delaney scholarships in 2018. William Delaney died that year at age 99.
He previously owned Delaney Motors Inc. in Glenshaw and was touted as an African American pioneer in the automotive industry in the Pittsburgh region.
The scholarship is for eligible young minorities with entrepreneurial goals.
To date, more than 15 students from Allegheny County have been awarded scholarships. More information is available at DelaneyScholarship.org.
