Seton Hill Child Development Center offering 1st scholarships thanks to Greensburg foundation

Families sending their little ones to Seton Hill Child Development Center now can seek scholarships from the preschool.

Thanks to a gift from the Greensburg-based Jamie Cordial Hall Foundation, CDC will offer two scholarships totaling $6,000 every year for the next five years.

A fluid number of families can receive the scholarships, which will be allotted based on need, saido CDC director Maria Stone. The center will evaluate each family’s financial situation and cover recipients’ costs between $500 and full tuition.

“I’m really excited that anybody, regardless of their financial situation, will be able to experience (CDC) and benefit from it,” Stone said.

Full-time Seton Hill faculty or staff members receiving tuition remission are not eligible for the scholarships.

As far as Stone knows, these are the first scholarships ever established at the center, which was founded in 1951. The preschool offers full-day and half-day programs for children ages 3 through 5.

The namesake of the Jamie Cordial Hall Foundation attended the center as a preschooler. Jamie Cordial Hall, of Greensburg, died after the birth of her son in 2018.

After Cordial Hall’s death, her family established the foundation to help children in the Greensburg area who have lost their parents. It since has expanded its mission to help children “in all ways possible,” according to Dale Cordial, Cordial Hall’s father.

Cordial Hall was known for helping and befriending everyone, her father recalls. These scholarships “fit with her legacy,” he said.

“She was a very, very kind and giving person,” Dale Cordial said. “She would give anybody anything.”

Dale Cordial added the foundation aims to extend the scholarship opportunities beyond five years.

Both CDC scholarships will bear the mother’s name: One is The Jamie Cordial Hall Annual Kindness Scholarship Award and the other is The Jamie Cordial Hall Memorial Endowed Scholarship.

The preschool previously dedicated a musical playground to Cordial Hall, whose family has been deeply involved at the center. Cordial Hall’s brothers and daughter attended the center, and her mother volunteered there for over two decades.

“We’re really grateful that they’re making this contribution to make this program available for anyone who wants to attend,” Stone said.

How to apply

Families whose children are enrolled in the center for 2022-23 can apply for the scholarships now.

In the future, Stone said the scholarship applications will open in the spring when enrollment opens.

The guidelines and application for the scholarships can be found on CDC’s website.