Jean France
Historic Preservation Scholarship
Each year, Historic Pittsford is pleased to offer a $1,000 scholarship award to encourage and support students who demonstrate an interest in a career related to historic preservation.
The 2026 recipient of the Jean France Historic Preservation Scholarship is Keira Datovech, a recent graduate of Pittsford Sutherland High School. In the fall, Keira will attend the University of Michigan majoring in architecture.
This sentiment, shared as part of her application essay, resonates closely with the mission and vision of Historic Pittsford:
“I believe that people appreciate their town and its history more when they can see its oldest structures. Personally, when I am walking through Pittsford, I look at the storefronts on main street; the buildings have unique designs, soft colors and brick facades and I think about how lucky I am to experience the same beautiful town as generations before me. I took a field trip once to see the Little House on Monroe Avenue, and I was thinking about how a piece of Pittsford’s history would have been lost if it was torn down for new spaces.”
Congratulations, Keira!
Information and an application form for the 2027 Jean France Historic Preservation Scholarship will be available here in March 2027.
This scholarship honors Jean France, a Pittsford resident, architectural historian and preservation advocate who worked tirelessly for the preservation of Pittsford’s historic architectural and cultural resources. She was a founding member of Historic Pittsford.
Recent Past Recipients
2025 - Evelynne Borrelli, SUNY Potsdam
2024 - Caroline Johnson, Nazareth University
2023 - Elizabeth Pearson, SUNY Brockport
2022 - Danielle Strauf, RPI
2021 - Evelynne Borrelli, SUNY Potsdam
2020 - Sierra Krienke, Syracuse University
2019 - Joseph Perry, Monroe Community College
2018 - Jonathan Beldner, Purdue University
2017 - Austin Ange, Viginia Tech
2016 - Julia Corsetti, Simmons College