The Donna Rauseo Memorial Scholarship Was Awarded to East Boston Resident Iris Umaña

The Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) announced the recipient of the first annual scholarship honoring the memory of Donna Rauseo, a lifelong resident of East Boston and a long-time employee of Massport at Logan International Airport. The $5,000 Donna Rauseo Memorial Scholarship was awarded to East Boston resident Iris Umaña. Umaña who is a graduate of East Boston High School and will be attending Smith College beginning this fall.

The Donna Rauseo Memorial Scholarship will be awarded annually to a female student who resides in East Boston, is graduating from high school and has been accepted to an accredited college or university.

Donna Rauseo, a longtime East Boston resident known for her personality and sparkling sense of humor, died in 2009.

Born Donna Morash, Rauseo was part of an Eastie family known for their political, social and environmental activism. At a very young age Rauseo’s social conscience was fully formed by her family, most especially by her mother, longtime community activist Evelyn Morash.

Rauseo was a graduate of East Boston High School and began her working career helping the neighborhood’s poorer residents through the East Boston APAC social service programs.

After working at APAC for over two decades, Rauseo went on to work for Massport as Tom Kinton’s executive  assistant when Kinton served as Aviation Director at Logan Airport and later CEO and Executive Director for Massport.

“We are very pleased to award Iris with the first Donna Rauseo Scholarship. Her commitment to family and community and her willingness to put others before herself epitomize what we were looking for when we established the scholarship in memory of our friend and colleague Donna Rauseo,” said Interim Massport CEO David Mackey.

To be considered for the Donna Rauseo Memorial Scholarship, students must be female and are required to have a minimum 3.0 grade point average and submit an essay of 1,000 words describing their career interests or how their community service has affected their outlook on life.

In her essay, Iris described how she has “experienced the rich feeling of accomplishment and helping others, the feeling of having people recognize one’s accomplishments and hard work”.

Scholarship essays are judged by a committee made up of Massport employees and a representative of the Rauseo family. Students interested in applying for the 2012 scholarship should visit www.massport.com/scholarships for eligibility requirements.

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