Recent Queens College Graduate and Students for Life member founds Scholarship for Pregnant or Parenting Students
College Point, New York— Wednesday, July 28th, 2021 — Last Wednesday, The Kathleen Mullally Foundation awarded their first educational grant to Ms. Malika Pegues. This nonprofit organization, founded by recent Queens College graduate and Students for Life of America activist Josephine Rose, seeks to award educational grants to pregnant or parenting students. The award ceremony was held at and in partnership with a local pregnancy resource center, The Bridge to Life.
The event was held in the resource center’s conference room, the first event to be held at their new location in College Point.
“When I first started fundraising for this scholarship, I was a freshman at Queens College and Vice president of the Queens College chapter of Students for Life… I have to say, contrary to what social media will tell you, it is always the Pro-life generation that is ready to help women in crisis finish their education and provide for their families, whether they need material assistance, childcare, or educational grants like this one,” said Ms. Rose during the ceremony. The educational grant was inspired by the Students for Life of America Pregnant on Campus Initiative, a program aimed at creating a support network on college campuses for pregnant or parenting students, as well as advocating for and educating those students.
“Four years and 14,000 dollars in fundraising later, the Kathleen Mullally foundation, an independent non-profit dedicated to helping pregnant or parenting students finish their education, was born. Though we are far from done fundraising, as 50,000 is our current goal, I am so thrilled by our success thus far.”
Malika Pegues, the recipient, is a current undergraduate student at Queens College, majoring in Psycho-Neurobiology & Therapeutic Recreation. Malika is a former victim of domestic violence, and works now as a crisis counselor. “After reading her story, the selection process was easy,” says Ms. Rose. “During the pandemic, Malika endured a domestic violence shelter with her two girls. She would drive her children from Brooklyn to childcare in Queens, and attend online school from a Panera Bread store in Long Island City. If that doesn’t show dedication to motherhood and to scholarship, I don’t know what does.”
Malika humbly replied, “No one ever told me, until this point, that what I did was worthy of praise. My emotions are up here!”
For more information, contact:
Josephine Rose
845-549-0830
kmullallyscholarship@gmail.com