Emily Finn Scholarship Fund Seeks New Support to Restart Next Cycle
Bayport, New York, October 3, 2026, The Emily Finn National Scholarship is being given another chance after its next scholarship cycle was paused because of limited funding.
The Youth Peace & Justice Foundation, also known as The Uvalde Foundation For Kids, is renewing its effort to rebuild the scholarship fund and restart the program. The goal is direct and deeply personal: help another young dancer continue studying the art that Emily Finn loved.
Emily, an 18-year-old dancer from West Sayville, had spent six years at American Ballet Studio in Bayport. She began there as a student and later became a teacher. Dance was not a side activity in her life. It was one of the places where she grew, taught, practiced, and belonged.
The scholarship was created with American Ballet Studio to help carry that part of her legacy forward.
The scholarship has already supported young dancers
The Emily Finn National Scholarship has already made its first awards.
In 2026, the Foundation and American Ballet Studio awarded scholarships to Cara Dietz and Maya Truglio. Each recipient received two months of full tuition support for April and May 2026.
The awards marked the first step in turning the scholarship from an idea into a real source of help for dancers. For families, tuition assistance can ease the cost of consistent training. For young dancers, support can mean more than paid classes. It can mean stability, access, and the ability to keep showing up.
The scholarship also provided funding to help American Ballet Studio develop its outdoor space as a lasting place in Emily’s memory. That project is intended to create an area connected to the studio where Emily spent so much of her life, and where her memory can remain part of the dance community.
Those first awards showed what the program could do. They also showed the challenge ahead.
After the initial scholarships were distributed, the next cycle had to be paused because there was not enough funding to continue. The renewed effort now centers on rebuilding the fund so the program can reopen and support another dancer.
“We were able to get the first scholarships out, and that meant a lot to us,” said Daniel Chapin, president of the Youth Peace & Justice Foundation.
The renewed effort is focused on restarting the next cycle
The Foundation is now working to raise enough support to restart the next scholarship cycle. The focus is not on expanding the program before it is ready. It is on restoring the fund to the point where another award can be made.
The scholarship’s purpose is narrow by design. It exists to help young dancers continue training, while keeping Emily’s connection to dance visible and active.
That kind of memorial scholarship depends on steady community backing. A scholarship can be created with a strong purpose, but it requires ongoing funding to continue from one cycle to the next. Without that support, even meaningful programs can be forced to pause.
The pause in this case came after the first awards, not before. The fund had already made a difference for two recipients. The next step is making sure the program does not end there.
The Emily Finn Scholarship Fund now seeks new support so another young dancer can benefit from the same kind of tuition assistance awarded earlier this year.
Emily’s connection to American Ballet Studio remains central
The scholarship is rooted in a specific place.
American Ballet Studio in Bayport was not just where Emily trained. It was also where she taught. Over six years, she became part of the studio’s daily life. The scholarship reflects that history by supporting dancers in connection with the same community.
Memorial scholarships often carry meaning because they are tied to lived experience. In this case, the connection is clear. Emily loved dance, trained in Bayport, and grew into a teaching role there. The scholarship keeps that story connected to action.
It also gives the studio community a way to remember her through the practice she cared about. Classes continue. Students keep learning. Teachers keep guiding them. The scholarship adds another layer to that work by helping remove a financial barrier for a dancer who wants to continue.
The outdoor space supported through the scholarship fund is part of that same effort. It is meant to create a lasting place near the studio, not separate from it. The memory is being held where Emily’s presence was already known.
For a local dance school, spaces like that can matter. They give students, families, and teachers a place to pause. They can also remind a community that remembrance does not have to be distant or abstract. It can be built into the places where people gather, practice, and grow.
The first awards showed a practical model
The first scholarship cycle was simple and concrete.
Cara Dietz and Maya Truglio each received two months of full tuition support. The assistance covered April and May 2026. That clear structure made the scholarship easy to understand and direct in its impact.
The model matters because it shows future supporters what their contributions are meant to do. The fund is not described as a broad or unclear effort. It pays for dance education, and it has already done so.
That practical approach gives the renewed campaign a foundation. The program does not have to prove whether a scholarship can be awarded. It already has. The question now is whether enough funding can be gathered to make another cycle possible.
The Foundation’s renewed work appears to be focused on continuity. The first awards were not meant to be a one-time gesture. They were meant to begin a program that could continue honoring Emily by helping dancers move forward.
A restarted cycle would continue that work in the most direct way, by supporting another student’s training.
Funding remains the deciding factor
The reason for the pause was straightforward: there was not enough funding to continue into the next scholarship cycle.
For scholarship programs, that issue is common. A first round of awards can be made when early donations come in, but long-term success depends on whether support continues after the initial attention fades. Memorial programs face the same challenge. They often begin with strong emotion and community care, then need a plan and renewed giving to stay active.
The Foundation’s current effort is an attempt to close that gap.
A restarted cycle would require enough money to fund tuition assistance again. It may also depend on the level of support needed to keep the program stable beyond one award period. The Foundation has not announced another recipient in the information provided, and the next cycle remains dependent on rebuilding the fund.
What is clear is the purpose of the renewed call for support. The program is trying to move from pause back to action.
That matters because the scholarship has already reached students. It has already helped two dancers continue training. New funding would allow the Foundation and American Ballet Studio to build on that first result instead of leaving it as the only cycle.
The scholarship connects memory with opportunity
The Emily Finn National Scholarship carries two responsibilities.
It honors Emily’s life through the art she loved. It also gives a young dancer tangible support. Both parts are important.
A memorial can preserve a name. A scholarship can also create movement in someone else’s life. In this case, that movement is literal: another dancer in class, another student at the barre, another young person able to continue training.
That connection gives the program its emotional weight. It does not try to define Emily only by what happened to her. It remembers what she loved, where she belonged, and how she shared that love with others.
The scholarship’s partnership with American Ballet Studio also keeps the effort close to Emily’s own story. She was part of that studio for years. She learned there. She taught there. The fund’s work is tied to that history.
The first recipients became part of the scholarship’s beginning. If the next cycle restarts, future recipients would carry the effort forward.
What comes next for the program
The next step is rebuilding the scholarship fund enough to restart the paused cycle.
The Foundation’s message is centered on the need for renewed support. Without additional funding, the program cannot continue awarding tuition assistance. With support, the scholarship can again help a dancer pursue training at a critical point in their development.
The effort is also a reminder that community-based scholarships depend on more than their founding moment. They need continued attention. They need people who remember why the program began and why it still matters.
For the Youth Peace & Justice Foundation and American Ballet Studio, the aim is to continue what began in 2026 with the first awards to Cara Dietz and Maya Truglio. Those scholarships showed that the fund could turn remembrance into practical help.
Now the work is to make sure that help can continue.
A renewed chance to continue Emily’s legacy
The Emily Finn National Scholarship began with a clear purpose: to keep Emily’s love of dance connected to the lives of young dancers.
Its first cycle fulfilled that purpose by helping two recipients with tuition support and contributing to a memorial outdoor space at American Ballet Studio. The pause that followed did not erase that progress, but it did show what the program needs next.
The renewed effort is about giving the scholarship a future. If the fund can be rebuilt, the next cycle can restart, and another dancer can receive support in Emily’s memory.
For now, the scholarship stands at a turning point. It has already shown what it can do. Its next chapter depends on whether enough support comes together to let it continue.
