Scholarship for Female Watchmaking Students

The horological industry is currently experiencing an essential ‘women in watches movement’, where female voices are being amplified and strengthened, but HSNY would be remiss if it didn’t mention women from America’s dark, yet radioactive past.

Grace Fryer

The Grace Fryer Scholarship is dedicated to the Radium Girls — the women of the 1920s who worked as dial painters in Illinois and New Jersey and succumbed to the often deadly side effects of working with radium, a material that was then instrumental in making watch dials glow. To encourage precision, these women were instructed to point the radium-lined brushes using their lips. The Radium Girls suffered horrific side effects from radium poisoning and many lost their lives.

Fryer (1899 - 1933), a dial painter in New Jersey who was poisoned by the element, spearheaded a long, arduous fight against their employer to acknowledge the deadly repercussions of using radium and demanded compensation for the women who often unknowingly fell prey. Fryer spent years fighting for the Radium Girls and their case would go on to gain national media attention and establish legal precedents, having tremendous labor rights impacts and ushering scientific advances. 

DETAILS

Any woman who has been accepted or is currently studying at a full-time watchmaking school in the U.S. is eligible for the Grace Fryer Scholarship. Prospective students may also apply, with the understanding that the scholarship is contingent on their enrollment at a full-time watchmaking school. The scholarship is awarded every April. Awards up to $5,000 are available.

To apply, students should email a letter in PDF form to the Trustees of the Horological Society of New York that includes a biography, explanation of their motivation to study watchmaking and an explanation of how this scholarship would benefit the applicant. A resume is required, and reference letters are recommended. The application period is January 1 to March 1 of every year.

Donor

The Grace Fryer Scholarship for Female Watchmaking Students is made possible by a generous donation from Yana Polikarpov and an anonymous donor.

AWARDEES

2024

2023

2022

Scholarships will be disbursed based on the proportion of the recognized educational program the student has completed. Additional funds will be disbursed at the beginning of each quarter/semester/section, in proportion to how much of the program that quarter/semester/section represents.

If a student leaves the program before completion disbursements will be paused. If said student does re-enroll in a watchmaking program within 2 years, their scholarship disbursements will restart. If said student does not re-enroll in a watchmaking program within 2 years the balance of the award is forfeited. If the same student enrolls again in a watchmaking program after 2 years they are not disqualified from applying to HSNY for additional scholarships.

For example, if a student is enrolled in a 2 year program consisting of 8 quarters, and is awarded a scholarship after 4 quarters of enrollment, the initial dispersement would be 50% of their total award. Additional quarterly disbursements would be 12.5% of their total award.

Exempt from the scholarship are board members, trustees, fellows of the Horological Society of New York, and their family members. Grant recipients will be asked to complete a W-9 form before receiving their gift (check) for tax purposes. For more information, contact us.