Nicole Marie Wiley Working Student Scholarship Fund Birthday Fundraiser Through June 16th & Scholarship Applications Due June 30th!
In honor of Nicole Wiley, her family has established the Nicole Marie Wiley Working Student Scholarship Fund at The Southlands Foundation. To donate online, use our link above. To donate in person, please call (845) 876-4862.
Nicole grew up at Southlands and she touched so many lives there, both as a child and an adult. She was a rider, teacher, mentor and friend to all of the animals and the people who came to ride, or visit. We'll miss her forever and treasure her memory as a kind person who was always there, with a smile and loved to share her passion for horses and the place she called home. Read more of Nicole’s memories here.
The Scholarship(s) will be awarded on an annual basis of up to $1500.00 per year. It will be a mixture of need, merit and interest or drive to better ones self through education and participation. There could be single or multiple awards given per year.
Scholarship money may be used for things like clinic fees, horse show fees, beginner show clothes, lessons, land conservation/nature education. Scholarship money may not be use for things like vet bills, feed, supplements.
Criteria for eligibility:
14-21 years old
Active in the Working Student Program at Southlands
Submissions ARE OPEN UNTIL JUNE 30th, 2023
Fill out an application form (form below)
Write a 500-word essay addressing how the working student would apply the funds to develop horsemanship, and in what ways the working student exemplifies the spirit of Nicole’s dedication to The Southlands Foundation
Scholarships will be announced at the Sunset at Southlands Gala on September 9th, 2023.
After beginning the program, successful recipient(s) will be required to write a 250 word impact statement on how they used the scholarship funds and what it meant to them to receive the scholarship after the completion of their term. (The impact statement may be used in future advertising, promotions etc.)
Application (please print and complete):
The Nicole M. Wiley Working Student Scholarship Application Form
· To qualify, a candidate :
· Must be 14-21 years old
· Active in the Southlands Working Student Program
Write a 500-word essay about what you would do with the scholarship money to further your education and why you would be a worthy candidate (see further prompts below)
Scholarship money may be used for things like: clinic fees, horse show fees, beginner show clothes, lessons, land conservation/nature education: scholarship money may NOT be used for things like: vet bills, bills, feed/supplements.
Please complete all of the following and return with the essay to the Southlands office by June 16th. Scholarship(s) will be awarded to recipients at the 2023 TSF Gala on 9/9/23.
Email: ___________________________________________
Name: ___________________________________________
Address: _________________________________________
Date of Birth: _____________________________________
Phone: __________________________________________
Scholarship Essay Information
As part of the application process, please submit an essay to executivedirector@southlands.org in a word doc. Address all 3 areas in 500 words.
1. What you would use the scholarship money for?
2. Explain why this is important to you.
3. You must answer three of the following seven prompts in your essay:
A. Do you currently ride? If yes, how long? What level? (Beginner, advanced beginner, intermediate, etc.)?
B. What goals do you hope to achieve through the scholarship? Please include long-term (3-5 years) and short-term goals (6 mo-3 years). Be as specific as possible.
C. What activities do you think will help you achieve these goals?
D. What discipline you are passionate about? Why?
E. What activities are you involved in as a working student? Tell us about your barn day.
F. What is your favorite activity while helping out around the barn? Why?
G. Are you involved in or interested in environmental education/land stewardship? Why do you think it’s important?
After you fill out the form above, please email your final essay in a Word document to executivedirector@southlands.org with the subject: Nicole M. Wiley Working Student Scholarship Essay Submission. Final deadline is June 16th, 2023.
Southlands Memories by Nicole Marie Wiley
The Southlands Foundation has been my one true home for the past 17 years.
When I think about Southlands, I think most about the ways that it has not just saved my life, but also given it meaning and direction at times when I was sure that it had none. For that I have three things to thank: the land, the people, and the horses.
I’ve never found it easy to meditate, or to be alone with myself and my thoughts, but there is something about sitting at the picnic table by the gazebo and looking over the rings, out to the west shed, and further west over ‘the big field’ that could put anyone’s mind at ease. I’ve spent countless hours there, enjoying sunsets and summer breezes that have made my mind feel, for the first time, tranquil. Sometimes, when I’m away and my mind is descending into a tendril of anxiety, I close my eyes and imagine myself overlooking the Southlands property. In truth some of my only ‘successful’ meditation has been visiting the land in my mind, whether remembering the trails from horseback, or visiting some of my best friends in their paddocks while they graze on their favorite pick of the spring grasses.
When I was younger, I could never imagine what my life would look like when I was 27. In truth, I sometimes couldn’t see myself in the next year. The future was always fuzzy. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, what I wanted to accomplish, or who I wanted to be. The more time I spent at Southlands, the more those concerns and uncertainties faded away, thanks to the guidance of the strong, ambitious women upon which Southlands was built, and still exists today. I owe a lifetime of debt to Pam Molyneux, Jenn D’Agostino, Susie Williams, and most of all, to Allison King. I took lessons from Pam as a child that instilled in me a dedicated sense of self-discipline. I learned quickly that if I was going to do something, I should do it not only correctly, but do it well. As a working student at Southlands, my mentors and supervisors Jenn and Susie, quite frankly, taught me how to be not only a good human, but a kind and considerate one. As simple a lesson as that seems, it has been one of the most important ones I have ever known, and one that has become an essential element to my own identity. And at a time when I knew who I was, but not where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do, Allison King grabbed me by the hand and pushed me into the world. It was her support and guidance that encouraged me to step out into the unknown, which at the time meant pursuing my Master’s Degree. There is little that I can put on paper to emphasize the importance of Allison’s mentorship and friendship throughout my early adult life. Allison, I wish I could find and fit all the words here – fortunately, I think at some point or another I have said them all to you.
As my favorite author Neil Gaiman put it, “there is something about riding a unicorn, for those people who still can, which is unlike any other experience: exhilarating, and intoxicating, and fine”. It was at Southlands that I learned all horses are unicorns in their own right, if you take the time to get to know them and to understand what it is that gives them their magic horn. Thanks to Southlands, I’ve met many unicorns, and have been privileged enough to call some of them my best friends. There is nothing that puts my heart at ease like Profit nuzzling through my hair or grooming my shoulders, or Lexington asking me not-so-subtly for a good neck stretch and massage before his lessons, and I look forward to quiet afternoons in Hero’s stall as he slurps down his dinner and listens to my latest stories, concerns, or successes.
Simply put, when asked what Southlands means to me, the answer is this: everything.