O’Melveny & Myers LLP presented college scholarships totaling $130,000 to local public high school students at the Eighth Annual O’Melveny & Myers Scholarship Awards ceremony on Wednesday, June 30, held at the Firm’s New York office. 

The O’Melveny & Myers awards program is organized in conjunction with The Fund for Public Schools and the New York City Department of Education. The keynote speaker was Johnny Drayton III, a 2004 O’Melveny Scholar, who offered sound advice to this year’s Scholars and shared how the Scholarship Program empowered him with the confidence to graduate from high school and enroll in a 4-year college. Anna May Feige, Director, Office of Strategic Partnerships, New York City Department of Education, also spoke at the event and congratulated the recipients.

Fifteen eleventh-grade students, three from public high schools in each of the five New York City boroughs, were selected through an application and interview process based on grade point average, attendance, enrollment in college preparatory classes, financial need, and community involvement. Five of the O’Melveny Scholars - one per high school - will receive a scholarship of $6,000 for each consecutive year of their college education. The ten remaining scholars will each receive $1,000 upon graduating high school.

The O’Melveny & Myers Scholarship Awards in New York were established in 2003 to encourage high school juniors demonstrating uncompromising excellence, distinctive leadership, and a commitment to community service to continue to excel and realize their dream of attending college. Since the program’s inception, nearly $1 million has been awarded to New York City public high school students. In 2007, O’Melveny & Myers implemented a mentoring program in which the Firm’s lawyers are paired with each of the 15 scholarship and grant recipients, and assist the scholars during their college selection program while building a positive relationship.