The Beneficial Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Beneficial Bank, awarded a $5,000 grant to Our Lady of Calvary School in Northeast Philadelphia for placing first in the Grades 4-8 category of The Beneficial Foundation School Challenge. Our Lady of Calvary School will use the grant to fund a new OLC Mission Control Initiative program, which will expand and enhance space science learning at the school through computer space simulation, direct telescope observations, rocketry and NASA/NASTAR resources.

“On behalf of The Beneficial Foundation I would like to congratulate Our Lady of Calvary School and its students for conceptualizing and presenting an education improvement project that will have a lasting impact on the school,” said Robert Juliano, Beneficial Bank vice president of community development. “These young students have shown true dedication to their education, and we are excited to see their vision come to life during the coming school year.”

In September 2011, The Beneficial Foundation School Challenge launched and asked schools throughout the greater Philadelphia and South Jersey regions to submit their ideas for an innovative program that would improve their school. The nine school finalists (five in the Grades 4-8 category and four in the Grades 9-12 category) were chosen by The Beneficial Foundation and were then challenged to develop a creative video demonstrating why their school should be awarded grant funds.

The nine videos were posted online and the public was given one month to vote for their favorite video. Our Lady of Calvary School received 221,832 votes. In total, 1,436,222 votes were cast in the Challenge.

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