Here’s the Winner of the Second Annual Beatrice Shipley Scholarship

Las Vegas—The American Gem Society and Gemological Institute of America have announced the winner of their second annual Beatrice Shipley Scholarship. 

The two organizations will award the honor to Rachel Burazer, a sales associate and custom designer at AGS member store Argo & Lehne Jewelers in Columbus, Ohio. 

Born in Ohio, Burazer moved to Chicago and received a bachelor’s degree in fashion design. 

After working in the food and beverage industry and at Bloomingdale’s, she realized she should combine her hospitality experience with a “more refined” retail environment, AGS said. 

She first worked at Chicago jewelry retailer Steve Quick Jeweler before moving to Argo & Lehne, where she currently acts as a mentor to her colleagues, a liaison to many vendors, and a trusted employee to customers. 

The scholarship will cover all her tuition costs for the GIA Graduate Gemologist on-campus or distance program in Carlsbad, California. 

It will also cover costs of the AGS Way Course—the final step in obtaining an AGS title, covering the history, mission, vision, and values of being a member—and entry to the 2021 AGS Conclave event, slated for Sept. 12-14 in Dallas. 

AGS and GIA created the Beatrice Shipley Scholarship together and announced it at the 2019 Conclave event in honor of trailblazing businesswoman Beatrice Shipley. 

Both organizations were founded in the 1930s when Beatrice and her husband, Robert, cashed in their savings to create them, with the goal of educating jewelers, professionalizing the industry, and creating a guild for these jewelers to join.

“AGS would like to thank GIA for its ongoing commitment to AGS and for partnering on this scholarship. Beatrice Shipley, along with her husband, changed the course of the jewelry industry,” said Katherine Bodoh, CEO of the American Gem Society and AGS Laboratories.

“We are so pleased to award Rachel with this scholarship. She is passionate about the jewelry industry, bettering herself, and serving her customers. I know this opportunity will propel her career forward.”