2024 Scholarship Season

Here at the Community Foundation we call it scholarship “season”. We start the scholarship process in early December and finish in March. The scholarship portal opens December 1st each year. The portal allows students to complete one application which then submits their request for just over 70 different scholarships. After the portal closes in early February, we prepare a compilation of qualified applicants for 16 different committees to make selections. We also have two committees at the Foundation which determine 25 scholarships. This year we took steps towards more equitable decision making by not having student names revealed during the decision process. We feel lucky to have people dedicated to this process as it is time consuming and often a painstaking process to sometimes award just one award when there appear to be so many worthy. Many would agree that the best part of this season is reading the student essays. Students take time to paint us a picture of what stood out for them in high school as well as what passion motivates them to start their next chapter. And finally, we remember and thank the people who started these scholarships. Their financial support is what makes the scholarship season possible. Congrats to all the 2024 scholarship recipients!