La Salle Student Mark Costello Handles Stress Well and Receives Scholarship

Being a college student can get stressful: term papers due tomorrow, massive tests next week, filing job applications. Most times these things do not stress out Mark Costello, a La Salle University English major. He helps care for an older sister who is mentally disabled, and that experience has taught him about keeping things in perspective.

It was this outlook and examples of leadership that earned him a $10,000 scholarship from ACE Group Holdings, Inc. through the ScholarshipAmerica program. (The scholarship, conducted on a nationwide basis, is for the children of employees of ACE Group Holdings.)

“When my parents take a night off to go out, I watch my sister Colleen,” says Costello, who lives in Philadelphia’s Roxborough section. “I can study a little, but I have to keep an eye on her at all times. It can get stressful.”

Costello wrote about this perspective in a 150 word-essay he submitted for the scholarship (accompanied by his superior academic record and his involvement with student organizations.)

This summer, Costello has a job at the University, and when a letter from ScholarshipAmerica arrived in the mail, Costello’s mother, Carol, called her son – and then opened the envelope.

There are three amounts of aid provided by the scholarship, and Mark Costello had to listen to his mother read the letter to him to find out what he would receive. “I was hoping it was the $10,000, the highest of the three amounts,” he said. His mother was so excited he had to tell her to calm down.

“I was hysterical,” said Carol Costello. “I couldn’t stop long enough to read the rest of the letter to him.”

Colleen Costello, 22, is a year older than her brother, and “there’s nothing he won’t do for her,” said Carolyn Costello. “He really steps up to the plate in caring for her. Once in a while she’ll show her temper, but he calms her down,” she said.

When Costello got his driver’s license, the first time he drove the car he took Colleen to visit their grandmother in Norristown, and this was at 8 p.m. after he’d just worked his shift at a supermarket.

“Mark is a terrific student, both inside and outside of the classroom,” said Kevin Harty, Chairman of La Salle’s English Department. “He has been able to participate in a number of the special educational opportunities that La Salle offers. Mark works with both the student newspaper, the Collegian, and the student theatre group, the Masque. He has chosen his courses to allow for an interesting mix of traditional courses and independent study projects."

Harty added that Costello plans to do an internship in publishing or fundraising in his senior year.

Next fall, Costello will be the Commentary Page editor at La Salle’s student newspaper. He’s also been a producer/director/writer of a one-act theatre troupe at the University, a member of the Honors Program Board, and a performer with the Masque, La Salle’s drama troupe.

After he graduates from La Salle, Costello would like to earn advanced degrees in English and teach and write.