NORWOOD, Massachusetts — Moira Kelly, executive director and president of EXPLO, has announced the 2017 recipients of the Richard Steele Scholarship. Two students from Aroostook County high schools will receive full scholarships to attend Explo at Yale University for three weeks in July and August.
Carson Theriault from Fort Kent Community High School and Katelyn Amero from Presque Isle High School, both current ninth-graders, were selected as 2017 Richard Steele Scholars.
The scholarship also provides individualized college counseling, beginning upon the students’ return to high school in the fall of 2017 and continuing for three years.
The Richard Steele Scholarship was established to honor Richard “Dick” Steele for his great support of EXPLO and his tremendous contributions to the field of college and university admissions. Born in Lewiston and a graduate of Lewiston High School, Steele earned his A.B. at Harvard College, his master’s degree at the University of Vermont and his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin.
His career in college admissions included leadership positions at Vassar, University of Vermont, Carleton College and Duke University, before returning to Maine to become dean of admissions at Bowdoin College. Upon his retirement, Dick became a novelist, continued to work as a consultant to the College Board, taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and became a trustee of EXPLO.
As an EXPLO trustee, he assisted with the development of the Northern Maine Scholarship Program, with a focus on northern Aroostook County. After his death in the spring of 2010, the program was renamed the Richard Steele Scholarship Program in his honor.
For more than 40 years, EXPLO has brought together bright, curious, and interesting young people to challenge themselves, discover the world of people and ideas, and experience the joy of learning. EXPLO (www.explo.org) offers internationally renowned summer enrichment programs for students in grades 2–12 from across the U.S. and more than 70 countries.
The programs are held on the campuses of Yale University, Wellesley College and Wheaton College.
