From the memoirs of Joseph Batory   July 19, 2024

Upper Darby High School’s Mendenhall-Tyson Scholarship, named for two former Upper Darby School District superintendents (Hendrickson Mendenhall and John Tyson) dates back to 1928.

As Upper Darby’s Superintendent of Schools, I became a member of the Mendenhall-Tyson Scholarship Foundation Board in 1984.

During the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, several hundred thousand dollars donated as memorials for the two deceased superintendents had been invested with the interest used to fund an annual scholarship for a top-rated Upper Darby High School graduate.

But then in 1998, an “angelic” event occurred . In my position as superintendent, I received a generous bequest of nearly one million dollars for the Mendenhall-Tyson scholarship fund from a former Upper Darby School District educator Janice Guiesinger.

This has changed everything!

As a result of this memorial gift in 1998, there are now 16 Upper Darby High School grads studying each year at an array of high-powered universities, utilizing his/her four-year total of $28,000.00 from their Mendenhall-Tyson Scholarship award.  

And I am delighted to still be a member of the Mendenhall-Tyson Scholarship Board,

Touched by angelic intervention, the Mendenhall Tyson Scholarship is bigger and better than ever these days, launching many careers of greatness for Upper Darby grads.