Baldwin-Wallace College Scholar

The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges
250 E. Broad St., Suite 1700
Columbus, Ohio 43215-3722

For more information contact Lynne Briggs or Cheryl Kight at
614-469-1950 or briggs@ofic.org, kight@ofic.org

CLEVELAND RESIDENT, RECIPIENT OF FERRO CORPORATION SCHOLARSHIP, PURSUING DEGREE AT BALDWIN-WALLACE COLLEGE

Midori Lebron, from Cleveland, Ohio is a junior at Baldwin-Wallace College majoring in Sociology with a minor in Psychology and Criminal Justice. She is the recipient of a scholarship from the Ferro Corporation through The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges’ (OFIC) Ohio Scholars Program.

Midori, whose parents immigrated to the United States from Puerto Rico, remembers her parents always encouraging her to further her education but says that she and her neighborhood peers knew nothing about the path to higher education. With the assistance of a high school guidance counselor, she learned about the college preparatory and application process and took it upon herself to research areas of study. While working through this process, she became determined to enter the field of social work so that she could help underprivileged children learn the importance of education and the steps to take to advance to college and succeed. “I want,” Midori says, “to help people learn to be educationally dependent instead of financially dependent. I want parents to learn resume building skills and understand the concepts of financial aid. I want to provide underprivileged parents and their children the proper tools to succeed.”

On campus Midori serves as Community Service Chair for the National Honor Society of Leadership and Success, organizing and implementing community service programs, works as Community Liaison for the Hispanic American Student Association to promote awareness and appreciation of Hispanic American culture. She also works as a College 101 course assistant, mentoring incoming students, encouraging campus involvement and helping the instructor with course preparation.

OFIC is the primary corporate and foundation solicitation organization for 34 independent Ohio colleges and universities and operates one of the largest, most comprehensive and diverse scholarship management services in the state. OFIC member colleges collectively enroll nearly 97,000 students and award one-third of all bachelor’s degrees in the state. For 58 years OFIC has worked to highlight the leadership, value and excellence of independent higher education and has provided unrestricted operating funds and scholarship commitments through funds raised in annual solicitations of businesses and foundations, thereby assuring continuation of excellence in private higher education. OFIC is governed by a Board of Trustees comprised of Ohio’s corporate leaders, as well as presidents of the 34 member colleges.

The member colleges are: Ashland University, Baldwin-Wallace College, Bluffton University, Capital University, Cedarville University, University of Dayton, Defiance College, Denison University, The University of Findlay, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Franklin University, Heidelberg College, Hiram College, John Carroll University, Kenyon College, Lake Erie College, Lourdes College, Malone University, Marietta College, Mount Union College, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Muskingum College, Notre Dame College, Oberlin College, Ohio Dominican University, Ohio Northern University, Ohio Wesleyan University, Otterbein College, Urbana University, Ursuline College, Walsh University, Wilmington College, Wittenberg University and The College of Wooster.