POUGHKEEPSIE, NY—Vassar College freshman Michelle Harvey (Utica, NY) has been selected as the first recipient of the Eric M. Smith ’92 Memorial Scholarship, which provides financial assistance for students who are not able to afford a college education. Preference is given for students who have worked for, or whose parents have worked for, McDonald's®, as Eric Smith and his mother Mindy Mayer, who established the scholarship endowment, were business partners in a McDonald's franchise.
 
Harvey who is planning to major in neuroscience and behavioral studies, said that she chose to attend Vassar College because it has “the reputation of a school built on strong academics and an excellent education.” At Vassar, she’s planning to try out for the Women’s Volleyball Team, the Aikido Club, and the Synchronized Ice-Skating Club.

“So far my greatest learning experience has just been to try new things and go in open-minded,” Harvey noted about her experiences to date. “I’m taking courses I’ve never considered before and trying new things on campus that have really opened my eyes.”

Harvey, who was the first black female valedictorian at the Thomas R. Proctor High School (Utica, NY) in 72 years of its history, was named by Utica’s Observer-Dispatch one of the “Teen All-Stars 2009,” outstanding high school graduates of the Mohawk Valley.

Praised by her school instructors as a “well-rounded” student, Harvey not only showed success in a challenging course load of Advanced Placement classes and in the school’s varsity volleyball squad, she also worked part-time at McDonald’s and as a newspaper carrier. She also served as a cadet executive officer in the school’s Navy Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program.

Her counselor at Thomas R. Proctor High School remarked to the Observer-Dispatch in a profile of Harvey that: “Michelle is a truly remarkable, well-rounded young person who will be extremely successful in all of her future endeavors.”

ABOUT THE ERIC M. SMITH ’92 MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP AND ERIC M. SMITH
Eric M. Smith ’92 Memorial Scholarship has been established by Smith’s family and friends in order to perpetuate his legacy and provide financial assistance for students who are not able to afford a college education.

Smith, his wife Christi, their two children Trevor and Allison, and Smith’s stepfather died as the result of a plane accident in Alaska in 2007. Smith’s mother Mindy Mayer, who survived the tragic accident, initiated the scholarship project. Mayer decided to create an endowment with a preference for students who have worked for, or whose parents have worked for, McDonald's, as both she and her son were business partners in a McDonald's franchise.

Eric M. Smith, who applied to Vassar College for Early Admission, was a nationally ranked junior tennis player while still in high school and graduated in the top two percent of his class. At Vassar, he became the number one tennis player on the men’s team in his freshmen year and remained so until he became the team captain in his senior year. A pre-med major, Smith was also the captain of the squash team. After graduating in 1992, he spent the following year in Japan teaching Japanese businessmen English. He became business partners with his mother in 1993, in a McDonald’s Franchisee Restaurant she purchased a few years earlier.

In addition to being a well-respected employer who successfully owned and operated twelve McDonald’s restaurants and other investment properties, Smith was always actively involved in community projects. He was a Rotarian, President of the McDonald’s Owners Association of Oregon & SW Washington, and served on the Board of Directors for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Oregon & SW Washington®.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.