Aug. 2, 2005,

Contact: Gordon Ovenshine 724-738-4854; gordon.ovenshine@sru.edu

SRU STUDENT ONE OF EIGHT IN NATION TO RECEIVE SCHOLARSHIP

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- The American Therapeutic Recreation Association has selected Slippery Rock University senior Heather Bright of New Castle as one of eight therapeutic recreation students in the nation to receive the ATRA’s Peg Connolly Scholarship. Connolly was its first president.

Awarded to college students based on essays and letters of recommendation, Bright, a therapeutic recreation major, wrote five short essays on the importance of therapeutic recreation and how it relates to her work with children with autism.

The scholarship pays her way to the association’s continuing education conference Oct. 7-11 in Salt Lake City.

 “I feel very privileged to have received this award,” she said. “ It will provide great opportunities for me to network and begin working toward my own professional career."   

Bright maintains a 3.5 grade-point average and expects to graduate in December with minors in gerontology, aquatics and psychology.

Her activities are many. In 2004, she helped organize and continues to volunteer with Circle of Friends, a collaboration between SRU and the Butler YMCA serving children with autism. She lifeguards and teaches swimming at SRU’s Robert N. Aebersold Student Recreation Center and at the Pearl K. Stoner Instructional Complex and volunteered during the Women’s National Wheelchair Basketball Association tournaments SRU hosted the past two years. She is also a peer leader with the university’s freshman orientation program.

           The American Therapeutic Recreation Association was founded in 1984 to advance the profession of therapeutic recreation.  It is a non-profit, professional membership organization based in Washington, D.C. 

##PN, New Castle News