Working Today for Our Community's Tomorrow

The Portuguese-American Leadership Council of the United States

Established 1991

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LUSUS
The Online Newsletter of PALCUS

Announcing the 2014 PALCUS National Scholarship Winners!

In 2012, PALCUS launched a national scholarship program for Portuguese-American college students. As the scholarship fund has grown, so has the interest and number of awards that PALCUS has been able to present annually. PALCUS is proud to announce the three winners who will be recognized at the annual Leadership Awards Gala on October 11, 2014 at Oxon Hill Manor, Oxon Hill, Maryland.

Congratulations to these outstanding scholarship recipients!

Support the PALCUS Scholarship Fund

Please make a donation to the PALCUS Scholarship Fund so that we may continue providing financial support to our deserving young Portuguese-American students!

Any amount helps - DONATE TODAY! All donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law and will be acknowledged!

THANK YOU! MUITO OBRIGADO!

2014 Graduate Scholarship: Horacio Martins Oliveira

Mr. Oliveira is a graduate student in the International Affairs Master's Program at the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University in Washington, DC. His planned focus area is the study of international conflict analysis and resolution, specializing in Brazil and the former Portuguese colonies in Africa. Born in Newark, NJ to Portuguese immigrant parents, he was raised in the predominantly Portuguese community of the city's "Ironbound" neighborhood. He has over ten years of non-profit experience in the areas of higher education and healthcare. In his role as Project Manager with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), Mr. Oliveira has worked extensively with national task forces, education initiatives, and coordinated numerous large conferences. He also speaks fluent Portuguese and volunteers his time with a local tennis group to raise funds for charities in the Washington, DC area.

2014 Undergraduate Scholarship: Matthew D. Setters

Matthew Setters of Somerset, Massachusetts is a second year student at Quinnipiac University, where he is studying Marketing and Finance. He is enrolled in a selective and rigorous program at Quinnipiac called the 3+1 BS/MBA program designed to complete the Bachelor of Science degree in three years and the Master of Business Administration degree the following year. He is in the University Honors Program and a Dean's List student carrying a GPA of 3.93. He was also a member of Quinnipiac's first place team in The Hartford Insurance Company's annual "Case Competition", which went on to compete at The Hartford's headquarters and present to a panel of executives. Matthew is an active member of the University's Investment Club and the American Marketing Association. His mother is a native of S. Miguel, Azores and says he has "fallen in love" with the island with each visit.

2014 Undergraduate Scholarship: Kayla Silva Setters

Ms. Setters is a senior at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst majoring in Communication on track to graduate in May 2015. During the spring semester of 2014, she studied abroad in Lisbon, Portugal for four months and attended classes at ISCTE capturing all of her experiences through photography and videography. She has been recognized in a student showcase for her work in communication research and was also awarded a scholarship to pursue a summer internship at 451 Marketing in Boston, Massachusetts. Among her many extracurricular activities, she is an executive board member and the multimedia director for Her Campus UMass, an organization that serves as the largest online community for college women in the world. She also volunteers her time working with Sisters on the Runway, a student group that raises funds for Safe Passage, a local organization that aids women suffering from domestic violence abuse. Her part-time job involves working with the elderly and children from underprivileged homes in Fall River, MA.

About the PALCUS Scholarship Program:

The PALCUS Scholarship Program was established with the purpose of supporting Portuguese American college students in the pursuit of their higher education goals. The merit-based scholarships are awarded to students of Portuguese ancestry who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in their academic careers and who show a commitment to completing an approved plan of study. Candidates must be matriculated into a four year college or university, be a U.S. citizen of at least 25% Portuguese heritage with a minimum of a 3.0 GPA in order to be eligible for consideration. Applications are evaluated based on academic record, essay, instructor's recommendation and extra-curricular activities and/or community service. Graduate and undergraduate students are encouraged to apply and are evaluated in two separate groups.

PALCUS Scholarships have been previously awarded to:

2012 Graduate: Dennis G. DeAlmeida, Seton Hall School of Law

2013 Graduate: Julianna Sumida, University of Hawaii

2013 Undergraduate: Sydney Fultz, California Polytechnic State University

The PALCUS Scholarship Fund is made possible through the generosity of the Rosa Family and the Graciette M. Simao Rosa Scholarship Fund. Please consider creating or sponsoring a PALCUS scholarship in honor of or in memory of someone in order to enable us to provide additional support in the future. Your donation may be eligible for matching funds from your employer. For more information, please contact Fernando Rosa at palcus@palcus.org.

Contact Information

Email: palcus@palcus.org

Website: www.palcus.org

Phone: 202-466-4664

9255 Center St., Suite 404

Manassas, VA 20110

Follow PALCUS on Facebook, LinkedIn, YahooGroups and Twitter!

For daily news and infomation on events and all things Portuguese, subscribe to Angela's List on YahooGroups, officially sponsored by PALCUS.

Jobs for Portuguese Speakers

If you want to put your Portuguese language skills to use in your next job, there are many opportunities out there! Visit the Jobs for Portuguese Speakers Facebook page to see some job openings.

PALCUS Mission

In order to create a singular voice to advocate for the Portuguese American and Luso-American communities at large, the Portuguese American Leadership Council of the United States Inc. (PALCUS) was founded in 1991 as a 501 � 3 non partisan, non profit, organization headquartered in Washington D.C.

The PALCUS mission is to address domestic and international concerns of the Portuguese American Community.

The Council conducts an expanding program of educational and public affairs activities on issues of interest to the Portuguese American community and of salience to the Luso-American Relationship.

PALCUS is committed to serving the community through increasingly active government relations efforts, the promotion of a greater awareness of ethnic accomplishments and encouraging stronger ties between Portugal and the United States. In this role PALCUS advance the community professionally, politically and culturally while working to ensure that issues directly affecting our community are addressed through our network of government and community leaders.

PALCUS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia. Donations are tax deductible to extent allowed by law.