Malcolm D’Souza, a 2024 graduate of Columbus St. Charles Preparatory School, is this year’s recipient of the Wendy O. Ward Foundation memorial scholarship.
The $5,000 scholarship is awarded to a graduate of a Columbus diocesan or Hilliard public high school who has been involved in school, community and parish activities and has demonstrated academic achievement, particularly in language arts.
D’Souza’s activities at St. Charles includes being the founder and leader of the school’s St. Vincent de Paul Society chapter, captain of the Quiz Bowl team and a member of the National Honor Society and the St. Charles Student Advisory Board. He received a perfect score of 36 on the ACT college test.
D’Souza also spent the past two summers at Ohio State University as an intern researching a cure for breast cancer. While not yet committed to any university, he has been admitted to Ohio State and intends to study a pre-medicine track in college.
Wendy Ward’s husband, Chris, a St. Charles graduate, established the scholarship in 2015 in memory of his wife, a Hilliard resident who died of breast cancer on May 18, 2012 after a 10-year career as a writer and public relations consultant.
Wendy Ward, a graduate of Bishop Luers High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana and of the University of Dayton, was grateful for her Catholic education and always said she counted herself lucky to do something not all English majors can – use her skills and write every day for her company, Constructive Communication, Inc., where she was vice president. Her husband and children, Leo and Jack, hope the scholarships named for her will help provide others with the same opportunity.
