Northridge Eighth-Grader Wins Math Scholarship
Published: Friday, May 29, 2020
Community Foundation of Elkhart County has awarded the eighth John G. Blakesley Mathematical Excellence Scholarship for eighth-graders to Chaya Lynch of Northridge Middle School. She is the daughter of Katrina Wedel and the late Michael Lynch.
This is a renewable scholarship applied toward a four-year degree at an accredited United States college or university following high school graduation. The John G. Blakesley Mathematical Excellence Scholarship awards $1,250 a year for each of four years in college for a total award of $5,000.
Each public and private middle school/junior high in Elkhart County was invited to nominate one student who demonstrated exceptional aptitude in mathematics and completed math honors coursework. Nominees were evaluated on the basis of academic performance (including grades and course load), extracurricular and civic involvement, career goals and unusual circumstances.
John G. Blakesley was born in Goshen in 1931 to Wayne and Thelma Blakesley. He was raised in Syracuse and attended New Paris High School, where as a freshman he won numerous math awards. After moving to Fort Wayne with his family, he graduated from Wayne Central High School, where he again won numerous awards in mathematics, in 1949.
Blakesley graduated from Yale University in 1954, majoring in economics and political science. Most of his professional career was spent working for the J.C. Penney Co., starting in the Chesapeake Bay area and then in Los Angeles.
He later moved to New York and Brussels, Belgium where he was a Systems Consultant for the company. After his retirement, Blakesley returned to New Haven, Conn. to become a docent for the Yale Center for British Arts, working with third grade students. He died in Baltimore in 2011.
Elkhart County resident Cheryl Weaver, Blakesley's niece who was executor of his estate, explained her uncle's charitable intentions in this way: "My Uncle John valued education, and he worked very hard to pay his way through college. The education he received help pave the way for him to enjoy the many things he was lucky to do in life. He wanted to make sure others had the same opportunity.
Because of this, he asked me to create two scholarship funds for the youth in Elkhart County because this is where I went to school, and I selected the Community Foundation of Elkhart County to implement his wonderful gift. It is a great honor to personally be involved in my Uncle John's legacy."
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