The Early Days
The Pennsbury Scholarship Foundation was born in 1956 when office technology consisted of telephones, mechanical typewriters and adding machines, and mimeograph duplicating machines.
​
Enter Computers
As Philip M. McAloon, Executive Vice President and head of Pennsbury Schools Information Technology, reported in the 1991 35th Anniversary Celebration booklet “Building Careers”, by the late 1980s the administrative tasks had increased substantially. Larger numbers of loans and grants were being awarded and semi-annual statements were being sent to 350 active scholarship recipients and loan payments and records were being maintained for almost 500 individuals.
​
He noted that in 1988, “The Foundation began looking into ways to automate many of the labor-intensive clerical responsibilities that Executive Secretary Kay Cooper was handling. After almost a year of research it was decided to develop a custom computer program that would be easy and quick to operate, would automatically maintain all account information, print account statements quickly and accurately and would have the capacity to include Foundation information on the statement. Within six months, an IBM PC-XT computer was obtained by the Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Joseph Farese, and the computer program was developed and installed a no cost to the Foundation.”
​​
Philip wrote that the new system was able to produce semi-annual account statements in less than one hour, a task which previously had taken more than three weeks of manual typing. And “As funds are received by the secretary, this system automatically posts the amount to the proper account and prints a transaction summary.” Further, “Personalized newsletters can be printed and mailed. Previously this had been considered too labor-intensive even to attempt.”
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
PSF Website
By 1998 the internet had entered the scene, and the Foundation’s First Vice President Thomas Engelman set up a website.
Excerpts from his memo of February 10, 1998, summarizes what he had done (but not the many pages of html computer language that he had spent many hours writing to create the website.):
”Well … our web site is almost finished. The only missing link is the list of Scholarships from the high school, and I have them in hand waiting to be scanned and put on the web page.”
“Wanda [Wanda Long, President at the time] put together a terrific presentation about the foundation, and it is posted on the web site now.”
“The online application form and an image of the actual printed form also are on the site and students can use them to apply for this year’s scholarships/loans.”
“Finally, I contacted the company George Barrett had worked with to post the original PSF web page. They have agreed to let me update what George did with our new site.”
“Wanda agreed that after this month’s board meeting those who are interested can go to the foundation’s office and take a look at the web site.”
​
George Barrett was a former board member who had created a web page for the Foundation. It was more like a one-page flyer, giving information about the Foundation and an email address and telephone number for the scholarship office. George had moved away and contact with him was lost. Tom contacted the company George had used to host the web page and began using it to host the new website.
​
From an article in the Yardley News of April 30, 1998, where Tom and Board member Cathie Streckewald are pictured in front of a computer, Editor Jeff Werner wrote,“In the click of a mouse and a scroll of the screen, parents and students can now log onto the Foundation’s web site, where they can visit colleges throughout the state and the nation, explore federal and state aid information, browse through student newspapers and learn about the many scholarship opportunities available to Pennsbury students including grants from the Pennsbury Scholarship Foundation.”
​
In January 1999, Dan Dilorenzo, Director of Information Technology at Pennsbury, advised Tom that he had created a link to the website from the Pennsbury District’s Home Page.
​
In January 2001, Tom reported to the Board of Directors that the website had been updated regarding the scholarship/loan application process, that it would have full email capability through the School District’s network and would have its own domain name within the District’s network. Use of the site during 2000 was indicated by 636 contacts with the home page, 107 contacts with the application page and 65 to 66 contacts with the information pages.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​​
​
​
​
​
​
​
By 2006 Kelly Corso, Office Administrator, was able to manage the website with support of the District’s Information Technology people. The website by 2006 had been expanded to have a comprehensive “About Us” section, a News section with links to a variety of news articles about the PSF, a thorough report on the 2006 Recipient Reception with photographs of recipients and donors of the scholarships, photos of new board members, a picture and information about the upcoming 50th Anniversary Celebration and Fundraiser, details of the Endowed Namesake Scholarships, a Support Us page with information on how to donate, a Contact Us page, an Application” section, colleges and financial resources information pages, a Scholarships Awarded page giving statistics about the 2006 Awards and information pages regarding writing the essays for the Application.
​
Initially there was no Donate button on the website. Kelly, members of the Board and the Pennsbury IT persons instituted a procedure that allows people to click on a Donate button and easily process their donations online.
​
The website has become a vital resource for the operation of the Foundation and is maintained and updated as needed by Kelly.
​
Promotional Video
In 2022 a 10-minute PSF promotional video was produced that can be accessed from the PSF website www.PennsburyScholarshipFoundation,org. It was a collaborative effort by Wanda and Hal Long working with the Board members and supported by Dan Mahoney, Video Production teacher at Pennsbury High School (title: Faculty Advisor/Instructor), and Harry Stymiest, Technical Advisor for the Pennsbury Channel, the name of the Pennsbury studio that supports the Video Production classes.
​
Wanda provided the content details and basic script for the video, Harry found online vintage photos and videos of the U.S. Steel Fairless Works construction and the Levittown and Fairless Hills housing developments from which clips were taken for the video. He also obtained an audio file of the Pennsbury Band Drum Beat that was used. Wanda and Hal recorded short videos of a few of the recipients at the 2022 Recipient Reception, who thanked the Foundation for their awards. They also recorded videos, in their home, of Foundation members speaking about various aspects of the Foundation. Wanda narrated a short summary of the history of the Foundation. Various photos and image scans from Hal and Wanda’s files were selected. Hal and Harry worked closely together with this material to create what is known as an A/V “2-column script” that tells the video editor, Harry in this case, exactly what to do. It is a second-by-second instruction on what still images and video clips are to be used and what narrations and audio sounds are to go with them, plus the transition effects that are to be used when going from one video sequence to the next. Harry then produced the completed video.
PSF History Site website
During this it was Wanda’s vision to also produce a video of the complete history of the Pennsbury Scholarship Foundation. To that end she wrote many notes and descriptions about the subjects that should be covered. However, producing a video covering all aspects of the Foundation that would be entertaining and appeal to the interests of all viewers seemed impractical. Viewers’ interests in subject matter vary and searching for specific information would be very cumbersome if one had to fast forward and backward to select subject matter of interest. Sophia Bediako, daughter of Board member Sheena Bediako and, at the time, a media student at Columbia University, was invited to look at the project. It was her suggestion to use a website as the vehicle to present the Foundation history as Wanda had envisioned. This is my effort to fulfill Wanda's vision -Hal.
​
Credit goes to Harry Stymiest of Pennsbury's technical team for initiating a plan to develop an independent Pennsbury Scholarship Foundation website in which this website will be embedded. This will preclude the existence of two Pennsbury-oriented websites that could confuse people searching online for Pennsbury Schools and scholarship information. At the PSF board meeting of September 26, 2024, which included Superintendent Thomas A. Smith, it was agreed that Harry should proceed with his plan, which will be accomplished at no cost to the Foundation. Completion is expected within the coming year.
---------
Compiled from the files of Wanda Long and recollection of my own experiences with the Foundation - Hal Long