Welch Scholar Kiersten Keating Starts Ice-Skating Scholarship
‘I want to give a child something to be excited about at the end of the school day.’
Sacred Heart University marketing student Kiersten Keating ’21 has created a scholarship at SHU, Skate with Heart, and is raising money in partnership with the Diversify Ice Foundation in Maryland to help low-income, underserved children across the country afford ice-skating lessons.
Keating is a student in the Jack Welch College of Business & Technology (WCBT) and a member of SHU’s club figure skating team. Skate with Heart is her Welch Scholar project, and her goal is to raise $2,000—enough to help five skaters afford lessons, skates, clothing, helmets and a transportation pass, if needed. So far, she has raised $460 of her goal. “I’m very grateful for what we have raised, but I definitely want to reach this goal and help as many students as I can,” she said.
To promote Skate with Heart, Keating has reached out with social media on Instagram (@skatewithheart21) and on her own social media accounts. She also has put up flyers at Wonderland of Ice in Bridgeport, home to Sacred Heart’s ice-skating team. “Being a part of the SHU skating team has definitely influenced this project,” said Keating, who has been skating for 15 years. She also works as a coach at Wonderland of Ice, teaching the types of classes for young skaters that she hopes to make more widely available with Skate with Heart. “I want to give a child something to be excited about at the end of the school day,” she said.
Michael Frechette, assistant professor of marketing, said he has been one of Keating’s instructors and knows her level of work. “So, I was happy to be her faculty advisor for her Welch Scholar project. Skating is something that she is passionate about, which makes this a fit all around. She is a good example of what makes a Pioneer: a self-starter who has a passion and gives back to the community.”
Initially, Keating wanted to create her own nonprofit to bring ice skating to more children. The timing and costs associated with establishing a foundation were prohibitive, so she turned to the Diversify Ice Foundation. Keating doesn’t want this initiative to end when she graduates, so she plans to work with the foundation for at least another year, with the hope that SHU’s ice-skating team can make Skate with Heart an annual philanthropic effort, helping more and more children nationwide experience the joy of skating.
The John F. Welch Scholarship provides financial support to students in the WCBT. Recipients demonstrate business and entrepreneurial values such as goal orientation, motivation and the ability to succeed. Once selected, students have a year to complete their projects and present their outcomes to faculty and other members of the SHU community.
To learn more about student projects, visit the Welch Scholar webpage.
From left: Kiersten with Coach Lisa Fedick, with her club figure skating team at nationals in 2019 and at Wonderland of Ice in Bridgeport.