Dedicated to OSI’s founders, C. Jack Pearce and Selette Hulsey Pearce
In honor of the two people who founded OSI, we are establishing two scholarships for aspiring lawyers and mental health professionals in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Each scholarship is renewed every semester and provides $1,250 per semester—$2,500 a year—to help a student pursue a career serving others.
These awards reflect two distinct paths of service: Jack’s work in law, public policy, and entrepreneurship, and Selette’s dedication to people living with severe mental illness. Together, they recognize the value of education put to work for others.
In honor of C. Jack Pearce
$1,250 per semester, renewed twice a year
For law students preparing to serve individuals, small businesses, and communities in the Washington metropolitan area. The scholarship celebrates thoughtful advocacy, professional integrity, and a commitment to making legal services more accessible.
In honor of Selette Hulsey Pearce
$1,250 per semester, renewed twice a year
For graduate students preparing for careers in mental health care in the Washington metropolitan area. The scholarship honors patience, compassion, and respect for the dignity of people living with mental illness.
Attorney, Entrepreneur, and Author
C. Jack Pearce’s career brought together public service, entrepreneurship, and a wide-ranging intellectual curiosity. His government service included shaping and implementing economic policy at the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and a White House Office of Consumer Affairs. These roles gave him a broad perspective on competition, consumer protection, and the ways public policy affects economic opportunity.
Following his work in the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, Jack entered private practice and founded OSI in 1981. Through OSI, he helped make professional office space and support services more accessible to independent practitioners and growing businesses in Washington, D.C. His commitment to transparent pricing and fair terms remains part of the company’s foundation.
Jack’s interests extended well beyond law and business. In his book, Fundamentals for the Anthropocene, he explored connections between the natural world, human society, and the economic and environmental challenges facing future generations.
The OSI scholarships honor that breadth of purpose by supporting aspiring lawyers and mental health professionals. They carry forward a practical commitment: helping people gain the education and opportunities they need to serve others and strengthen their communities.
Read more about OSI’s historyOccupational Therapist and Mental Health Advocate
Selette Hulsey Pearce devoted her professional life to reaching people living with severe and persistent mental illness. During her training as an occupational therapist, an internship at the Menninger Clinic introduced her to the role occupational therapy could play in helping people experiencing mental health crises. That experience shaped a lifelong commitment to this work.
After moving to Washington, D.C., for her husband’s career, Selette worked for many years at St. Elizabeths Hospital, where she led groups for long-term patients experiencing severe psychosis. A gifted and dedicated therapist, she became known for drawing even the most isolated and withdrawn patients into interaction with others.
Her children remember her searching for pictures to use as conversation prompts—images that might connect with a patient’s memories, interests, or life before hospitalization. Each picture offered another possibility for connection, another way to reach someone whose voice had long gone unheard.
For Selette, success could be as quiet as a returned gaze from someone who had been uncommunicative for decades. Her work called for extraordinary patience, careful attention, and an unwavering respect for each person’s dignity.
This scholarship honors Selette’s dedication by supporting the next generation of mental health professionals who share her belief that every person, however isolated, deserves the patience and care it takes to reach them.
Both scholarships are administered by Bold.org. Eligibility requirements, deadlines, the application itself, recipient selection, and award payments are all handled on each scholarship’s Bold.org page—always the current source for those details.
One award is intended for students pursuing a JD, and one for graduate students preparing for a mental health profession. The full eligibility requirements are on each scholarship’s Bold.org page.
Each scholarship is renewed every semester—twice a year—with a $1,250 award each semester. That is $2,500 a year per scholarship, for a total of $5,000 a year across the two scholarships.
No. Which schools and programs qualify is set out in the eligibility requirements on each scholarship’s Bold.org page.
Applications are submitted through Bold.org: OSI Future Lawyers Scholarship and OSI Mental Health Scholarship.
Deadlines, selection, and award payments are managed by Bold.org. Each scholarship’s Bold.org page has the current dates and process.
Questions about eligibility or your application? Use the scholarship’s Bold.org page. For anything else, contact OSI.