GIA Allocates $2M for New Scholarships

RAPAPORT... The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) will offer $2million in scholarship funds in 2018 to students in its gemology and jewelry-manufacturing-arts programs.  The fund includes a new $500,000 endowment -the Charles and Erna Leutwyler Memorial Scholarship - named for two Texas jewelryretailers and GIA alumni, and donated by their estate. The scholarship provides$18,000 toward study and completion of an on-campus program within the US in the graduate-gemologist, graduate-jeweler or jewelry-design-and-technology fields. "We are pleased that GIA can honor the Leutwylers (pictured), theirdedication to learning and their spirit of giving through this memorialscholarship," Kathryn Kimmel, GIA senior vice president and chiefmarketing officer, said Monday. The GIA has awarded more than $8 million in scholarships overthe past eight years, funded by the GIA Endowment Fund as well as privatedonors.