Holy Cross Awards Ellis Scholarship to Worcester Student

WORCESTER, Mass. – Erin M. Sullivan of Worcester will receive a full tuition scholarship next fall when she enters as a first-year student at Holy Cross.  She was chosen by the Holy Cross Admissions Committee to receive the Theodore T. and Mary G. Ellis Scholarship, which was established in 1941.  In 1996, the scholarship was redirected and made a full scholarship, annually renewable for each recipient.

She is the daughter of David and Fayne Sullivan of May Street in Worcester.  A senior at St. Peter Marian High School, Sullivan is the oldest of seven children in a family that has a set of triplets and a set of twins.  She has been involved with Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) and Girls, Inc.  Sullivan has also participated in drama productions and was a member of the swim team.

The Ellis Scholarship is named in honor of the late owner and publisher of the Worcester Telegram and the Evening Gazette and his wife.  Ellis owned the newspapers from 1919 to 1925, and combined the two papers for the first time.  At the time of his death in 1934, he was vice president and part owner of the Chicago Daily News and the president of the New England Fibre Blanket Company.  The Ellis family estate created the scholarships in 1941 to acknowledge outstanding academic work and extracurricular involvement of a student residing in the city of Worcester.  The $2.5 million scholarship endowment has provided partial scholarships to several Worcester students each year.  Since the 1996-97 academic year, the scholarship has fully covered tuition.