Emily Sherwood to Receive the Scarsdale Bowl

Emily Sherwood, a former President and Trustee of the Scarsdale Board of Education, will be the 74th recipient of the Scarsdale Bowl Award and the 21st woman chosen. She was selected by the Scarsdale Bowl Committee because, “She exemplifies the best of Scarsdale volunteerism, exhibiting a wonderful balance of self confidence and humility, doing all she does for the right reasons and not for the glory.” The award is presented annually by the Scarsdale Foundation to “one who has given unselfishly of their time, energy and effort to the civic welfare of the community.”

Sherwood will be honored at the annual Scarsdale Bowl Dinner on Wednesday evening, April 6, at the Lake Isle Country Club in Eastchester. All Scarsdale residents are invited to attend this celebration of community volunteerism. For more information, go to www.scarsdalefoundation.org .

“The Scarsdale Bowl was initiated in 1943 to acknowledge an individual’s extraordinary contributions to the civic life of this community” said Rita Golden, Chair of the Scarsdale Bowl Committee. “The members of the 2011 Bowl Committee unanimously agreed that Sherwood exhibits the spirit and accomplishments to earn this honor. She is highly intelligent, immensely hard-working, thoughtful and creative, a genuinely inclusive and collegial leader who has risen to the top of every organization she touches”.

Scarsdale Bowl Committee Chair Rita Golden

The 15-member Scarsdale Bowl Committee voted to honor Sherwood on Sunday evening and a foursome-committee, including Chair Rita Golden, Scarsdale Foundation President and past Bowl winner Jackie Irwin , Foundation liaison Seth Ross and Foundation Secretary, Nancy Michaels, went to her home on Morris Lane at 9 p.m. Golden commented that it was fitting that they found her hard at work on the computer doing volunteer work on a Sunday evening, and her first reaction to their news was “I’m shocked and very honored”. Sherwood was “overwhelmed” that she was chosen as the honoree.

 

Sherwood and her husband, Ned, moved to Scarsdale in 1984, with two toddlers. As the boys entered Heathcote School, she remembers being an excited new parent attending PTA meetings. Before long, she was involved in PTA cultural arts and publicity, and never let up, working on most other PTA committees over the next few years. When her youngest child was four, she accepted the Heathcote PTA Presidency, which led to decades of Scarsdale school involvement. As PT Council President, she helped found the Young Writer’s Conference for elementary students. She then chaired the Conference while serving also as Co-Chair of the Scarsdale Task Force on Drugs and Alcohol, thereby staying involved with issues for children of all ages. She served on the School Board Nominating Committee and later headed it as Chair. From there, Sherwood went on to serve on the Board of Education as a trustee, Vice President and President. Beyond her Scarsdale school related involvement, she has also sat on the boards of Scarsdale/Edgemont Family Counseling, Scarsdale Teen Center, Friends of the Scarsdale Library, Scarsdale Community Center, and the Citizen’s Nominating Committee. Outside of Scarsdale, Sherwood has been a board member of the United Way, the Westchester-Putnam School Boards Association, Stanford University Parent’s Advisory Board, and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute Visiting Committee, as well as the University of Pennsylvania, as Class of1973 Gift Chair. And being an avid athlete herself, she volunteered in sports-related activities by coaching tennis for Heathcote’s Rec team, serving as the soccer area chair, and President of the Heathcote Athletic Association.

She was a member of the Scarsdale Bowl Committee’s class of 2000, and is now a trustee of the Scarsdale Foundation and its

publicity chair. Rita Golden noted that since her volunteer career is so extensive “many people know her in so many different capacities. She’s a perfect role model for volunteerism – a good collaborator and fun to work with, someone who always knows how to build a consensus, even with the most difficult issues.” Her nominator called her “a highly ethical leader, committed to a fair and open process and infallibly respectful of all points of view.”

 

Her volunteer efforts continue. When her term on the Scarsdale School Board ended, Sherwood sought out other meaningful uses for her abundant energy and talents. She began working at Partnership for Children’s Rights in 2007 as Director of Development /Public Relations and Board member. This nonprofit organization, founded by Scarsdale resident, Warren Sinsheimer, advocates for children with special needs by helping them obtain appropriate educational services.

Sherwood graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, Magna Cum Laude/Phi Beta Kappa and holds a PhD from Brandeis University in Social Planning and Policy. She was honored in 2005 by the Westchester Fund for Women and Girls/Westchester Community Fund as one of six outstanding leaders. She is a contributing editor to Education Update, a NYC-based education newspaper, and Ethikos, a business ethics newsletter. Sherwood and her husband are the parents of 4 adult children, Matt, Rich, Mark and Pam, all of whom attended Scarsdale schools.

There is an opportunity to see Emily actively volunteering as she participates in the first Friends of the Scarsdale Library Spelling Bee Jan 28th. This event will raise funds to install state of the art technology in the Scott Room. Her team is aptly named Bee Cause.