Mitchell Institute Announces Endowed Scholarship for Northern Aroostook County Students

Van Buren native Carol Markell says making a gift of $250,000 to endow a Mitchell Scholarship that will be awarded annually to a college-bound graduate of a public high school in the St. John River Valley area of Maine “is about me wanting to give back to a town that deeply appreciated my father, his family, and me.”

PORTLAND, Maine — Mitchell Institute President and CEO Jared Cash announced today that a Van Buren native has pledged a gift of $250,000 to endow the Carol Smith Markell Pioneer Scholar award. The gift endows a $10,000 Mitchell Scholarship that will be awarded annually to a college-bound graduate of a public high school in the St. John River Valley area of the state. In addition to the Mitchell Scholarship, the selected St. John River Valley area graduate will also receive the Mitchell Institute’s broad array of mentoring, leadership and career-development programming.

The annual endowed Mitchell Scholarship will support a Mitchell Scholar from the northernmost region of Maine along the St. John River, the international border between Maine and the Canadian provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick. Preference will be given to a Mitchell Scholar pursuing a degree in healthcare, one who has shown a deep interest in science and humanities, and exemplifies determination and hard work. For Carol Markell, funding the scholarship through the Mitchell Institute is a way to express her appreciation and support to the town of Van Buren and the St. John River region, and to give opportunity to the aspirations of its youth.

“This is about me wanting to give back to a town that deeply appreciated my father, his family and me,” Markell said. “I graduated from Sacred Heart High School in Van Buren in 1958. My hope to be a research physician was never even voiced because it was not included in the career options afforded young women — becoming a secretary, schoolteacher or nurse. I completed a three-year program at Mercy Hospital School of Nursing and valued my work as a Public Health Nurse in Madawaska.”

Markell said she had been eager to invest in the St. John River Valley and its young people for years but couldn’t find the right organization to help bring her vision to life until she learned of the Mitchell Institute’s Pioneer Scholar Program from former Mitchell Institute Board member Mark Fernandez. “To have found out what the Mitchell Institute does for students, that they will offer funds in addition to guidance and assistance throughout the scholars’ four years of college, was an exhilarating discovery. It was like the dream of finding a gem amid the rocks. In addition, I also saw the possibility of contributing to some scholars’ dreams being realized.”

Markell hopes that her scholarship will provide an opportunity for someone to eventually go to medical school. “I couldn’t be any happier than I am to make this donation,” she said.

Senator George J. Mitchell, who founded the Mitchell Institute in 1995 to increase the likelihood that young people from every community in Maine will aspire to, pursue, and achieve a college education, first announced the Carol Smith Markell Pioneer Scholar award at the Institute’s annual Gala on Friday, Sept. 20, at Brick South, Thompson’s Point, in Portland.

Before an audience of more than 650 Gala attendees, Senator Mitchell thanked Markell for her generosity in endowing the designated Mitchell Scholarship that will support graduates of the St. John River Valley in perpetuity.

“We establish Pioneers in recognition of friends who have supported the Institute with gifts of $250,000 or more. This program is incredibly important to our continuing efforts on behalf of the young people of Maine, and I am deeply grateful to these donors,” he said.

After providing the selection criteria for the Carol Smith Markell Pioneer Scholar award, Senator Mitchell told the gathering, “I am especially pleased to note that this will be our first Pioneer Scholarship dedicated to a student from Aroostook County.”

After the annual celebration of Mitchell Scholars and the Mitchell Institute’s mission to unlock the potential of Maine students, Cash, the President and CEO of the Mitchell Institute, thanked Markell for her foresight and generosity in creating the Carol Smith Markell Pioneer Scholar award.

“We are honored that Carol has entrusted us with her generous investment in the young people of northern Aroostook County,” said Cash. “Her commitment to supporting the region’s college-going youth and, by extension, investing in their communities is an inspiration to us. We are grateful to Carol for choosing the Mitchell Institute in what I know was a deeply thoughtful decision. We look forward to announcing the first Carol Markell Pioneer Scholar in the coming year and making sure they understand the origins and intentions of this generous support.”