NEWBERRY — Newberry College now offers an endowed scholarship for students of foreign languages, thanks to the generosity of a late alumnus.
The estate of Nicholas P. Mitchell, class of 1918, set aside $250,000 to establish a permanent endowment fund. The scholarships are designed for students who major or minor in a foreign language and who have a financial need. The college currently offers a major and minor in Spanish, along with basic and intermediate classes in German.
“We are grateful to be able to award the Nicholas P. Mitchell Foreign Languages Scholarship,” said Pat Gagliano, interim dean of arts, humanities and social sciences. “When our students study languages at Newberry College, they make themselves more attractive for future employment, and become more engaged citizens in our global society.”
According to the 1918 Newberry College yearbook, Mitchell was born in Greece. He came to America at the age of 15, and in 1911, he opened a candy and fruit business in Newberry. Three years later, he enrolled at Newberry College, where he was a member of the Excelsior Literary Society, an avid debater and orator and class poet. He became a U.S. citizen during his junior year, according to newspaper reports.
“His poetic and oratorical abilities are well known and he deserves special credit for his work at Newberry because of the handicap under which he has labored,” wrote the yearbook editors, presumably referring to the fact that English was Mitchell’s second language.
“Part of the stated mission of Newberry College is to prepare our students to be engaged global citizens, and foreign languages are at the heart of that endeavor,” said Dr. David Rachels, chair of humanities and professor of English. “Therefore, this generous gift could not be more appropriate or more appreciated.”
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