Pittsburgh

Eighth Annual Fundraiser

On December 15th, the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Carson Scholars Fund held its Eighth Annual Charity Auction and Cocktail Event at Bossa Nova in the cultural district of downtown Pittsburgh. The event was a rousing success – raising $120,000 for the chapter, which will be used to recognize and reward talented students in and around Pittsburgh.

Dr. Al Costa, president of the Pittsburgh Chapter, and his stellar staff at the Costa Land Company organized the star-studded event. The event featured several local and national celebrities, including: Bob Pompeani of KDKA-TV; Sally Wiggin, news anchor for Channel 4 WTAE-TV; our own Dr. Carson; and several Pittsburgh Steelers (both past and present) – Jerome Bettis, James Farrior, Chris Carter, Hines Ward, and William Gay.

To see more pictures from the event, click here.

To read Candy Carson’s thoughts about the night, click here.

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Seventh Annual Awards Banquet

174 medaled scholars marched around the elevated perimeter of the 17th floor banquet hall, while guests viewed from below through the gilded filigreed balcony panels in the baroque/rococo style décor.   The regal tune of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Procession of the Nobles rang out in the beautifully appointed historic Omni William Penn Hotel as the students processed into the 7th Annual Carson Scholars Fund Pittsburgh Awards Banquet on Saturday, April 30, 2011.  This year there were 82 new Carson Scholars and 92 Repeat Scholars being honored.

Once the scholars took their seats, two-time Carson Scholar, David Miller, a 9th grader from Central Catholic High School, gave a heartfelt blessing.  Ellen Leibowitz, a five-time Carson Scholar from Pittsburgh Allderdice High School then proudly led the congregants in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Dream of the Cherry Blossoms.   The performance was poetry in motion as his movements behind the instrument could be likened to an exquisite ballet, while the phrasing and interpretation was as eloquent as any professional.

After lunch, one of the Inaugural Scholars from 1996, CSF’s first year awarding scholarships, came to the podium to speak.  Kerwin Speight received his Carson Scholarship as a 10th grader at H.D. Woodson Senior High School in Washington, DC. Recently, Kerwin relocated to Pittsburgh and became the Executive Producer of WTAE-TV. Coincidentally, he now works with Sally Wiggin, who has emceed the Pittsburgh Chapter’s Banquet for five years!

Kerwin reminisced about the first awards ceremony and how amazed he is that it has blossomed into the elaborate event it is today.  He challenged the scholars and the rest of the guests to continue to raise the bar, to always do a good job no matter how small or insignificant it may seem to be, and to be willing to step outside of our comfort zone to grow.  His final words were, “Your attitude determines your altitude!  And don’t forget to always lend a helping hand.”

Ms. Wiggin then introduced Dr. Al Costa, President of the CSF Pittsburgh Chapter, which was started in 2004.  That first year there were 30 scholars from the Pittsburgh area. Now, nearly 600 scholarships have been awarded to students in and around Pittsburgh! Dr. Costa warmly thanked everyone involved in making the event such a success, including the Pittsburgh Steelers, who strongly support the Pittsburgh chapter.  Each year more than 15 Steelers donate their time to the success of this organization, including “Twinkle Toes Hines Ward” who is currently performing on the hit ABC show Dancing with the Stars.

Dr. Costa also thanked his wife Mary for her help. An active humanitarian, Mary not only volunteers with the Pittsburgh CSF Chapter, but along with friend of CSF Patti Loyacona, donates, prepares, and wraps gifts for hundreds of disadvantaged children every Christmas.

Dr. Costa continued his speech with stories from his childhood.  Although he was the son of Italian immigrants who had little, his parents motivated him to achieve.  Dr. Costa went on to found real-estate development, investment and management firm, Costa Land Company, not to mention run the Pittsburgh CSF Chapter! Costa urged us to “take our motivation, strive for success in life and then turn around and help someone else.”

Dr. Costa then introduced VIP guest and honoree, Peter Salovey, A.B., M.A., Ph.D. Dr. Salovey came from humble beginnings as well, but because he realized the importance of education, he is now the Provost and Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology of Yale University. Can you imagine a more deserving person for whom to create an award? Therefore, the first Leadership Award of the Pittsburgh Carson Scholars program was presented to Dr. Salovey by Dr. Costa and Dr. and Mrs. Carson, for demonstrating leadership in his life through innovative practices, initiation and implementation of creative ideas, and ultimate success, thereby becoming a role model for us all. 

In his comments, Dr. Salovey compared three families who had meager beginnings, but through education, were afforded the opportunity to transcend the former generation and reach new heights of accomplishment.  The families were Dr. Carson’s, Dr. Costa’s, and his own.  Dr. Salovey said that with those accomplishments comes an obligation to inspire others, and concluded his remarks by urging each of the students to do so.

In his keynote address, Dr. Carson taught the audience a very important lesson: that it is our responsibility to learn from our mistakes. He included several anecdotes from when he was in grade school to hit the point home.

Dr. Carson applied the same principle to fixing our government. “Our nation is in trouble,” he said. One could surmise that mistakes have been made by some of our leaders, “but we could still turn it around by going back to our founders’ principles.” He told the story of the Battle of Monongahela (a river that runs through Pittsburgh) during the French and Indian War to illustrate that “the incredible economic success of our country having risen from nothing to being a contending economic force for Europe in only 50 years, had to be due to a Greater Power’s involvement.”

Dr. Carson went on to describe some of our American symbols - the flag, Statue of Liberty and bald eagle – all things of which we should be proud.  He advised us to keep in mind that the eagle was chosen because it could soar only if the wings (both right and left) were balanced.  The sooner we Americans learn to compromise, realizing that good ideas can come from either “camp” or political party, the higher we can soar.

Again we have to thank the Pittsburgh Chapter for their dedicated service, the office staff of Costa Land Co, donors and sponsors, volunteers, educators and parents.

Pittsburgh Prowess Prevails!

Check out this video from the 2010 banquet!

To read about the 2010 and 2009 banquets, click here.