FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 21, 2022
CONTACT Aaron Johnson Aaron@narrative-project.com 475.305.9324
New Haven Charter of Sigma Pi Phi Awards $50,000 in Scholarship Funds to Promising Scholars Students During Virtual Event
New Haven, CT- Beta Tau Boulé, the New Haven charter of Sigma Pi Phi, the oldest African-American fraternity, today announced a virtual event for its Promising Scholars Scholarship Awardees on May 21 from 11 a.m. to noon. Promising Scholars provides scholarship support to Black students who demonstrate high academic achievement, leadership, and community service. The students must be from Connecticut, and preference is given to students from the New Haven area. “Aren’t our scholarship recipients impressive? We are so proud of them, one and all,” said Carlton Highsmith, Promising Scholars’ Board Chairman. “These students embody all that we hold dear here at Beta Tau Boulé: high academic achievement, a commitment to excellence, active engagement and service to our community, character and integrity of the absolute finest repute.” Applicants to the Promising Scholars Fund Edward A. Bouchet Scholarship must have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale. Awards are given annually for full-time study at an accredited two-year or four-year college or university of the student’s choice. Past recipients can reapply to the program each year they meet eligibility requirements. In 1986, Beta Tau Boulé established the Edward A. Bouchet Outstanding Achievement Award, in honor of Edward Bouchet. Bouchet, born and raised in New Haven, was the first self-identified African-American to graduate from Yale College or to earn a Ph.D. from an American university. He was also the sixth person in the Western Hemisphere to ever earn the Ph.D. in physics. LIST OF STUDENT AWARDEES OF THE EDWARD A. BOUCHET Neil Grasty - Morehouse College* Laila Smith - University of Southern California* Makayla Dawkins - University of Connecticut Michael Christie - University of Connecticut Elyece Patterson - Spelman College Logan Foreman - Hampton University Bradley Rustin - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Samuel Oathout - Boston University *recipients of the Anna James Awards
### ABOUT BETA TAU BOULÉ Beta Tau Boulé is the New Haven charter of Sigma Pi Phi, the oldest African-American fraternity. The Boulé was established in New Haven, CT, on June 24, 1983, in a joint chartering ceremony with Beta Sigma of Springfield, MA. Beta Tau Boulé was organized through the efforts of its ten charter members with the support of Grand Sire Archon Robert Franklin, Northeast Regional Sire Samuel Massie, and Archons Ted Pryor and David Thompson of Alpha Psi in Hartford. The first Sire Archon of Beta Tau was William J. Massie. In 1987, Beta Tau hosted the Northeast Regional Boulé on the Yale University campus. Beta Tau Archon Alvin Johnson served as Sire Archon of the Northeast Region (2001-2003). As of 2019, Beta Tau had thirty-nine members, including six officers.