Last week I had the opportunity to be involved in reviewing applications for an annual scholarship that our Shawnee Rotary Club provides.
Along with several other Rotarians, I had the privilege of helping decide from about 10 applications submitted by seniors from two area high schools.
Tony McMurry served as the committee chair. Also serving on the committee were Natalie Arnett, a new member to our club, Marta Land and Paige McLain.
We reviewed each detailed application independently from one another.
The applicant could receive up to five points in each of four areas for a total 20 points from each one of us. So, we put a number based on how we judged each application, then submitted that to our committee chair.
The applicant receiving the highest number of points is the student who is receiving the scholarship.
There is no conferring on the applications by any of the committee members.
The four areas we considered were College Career Path, Community Service, Academic Performance and difficulty of curriculum, and financial need.
The scholarship the Rotary Club provides is called “Service Above Self Scholarship.”
As pointed out in the information provided to each applicant, the nominee must demonstrate exemplary humanitarian service, in any form and at any level, with an emphasis on personal volunteer efforts and active involvement in helping others.
The scholarship is to be applied toward tuition, fees, or related expenses of the accredited college or university attended by the recipient.
The Rotary motto “Service Above Self” conveys the humanitarian spirit of the organization’s more than 1.2 million members.
The total amount of the scholarship we provide as a Club is $4,000. It’s to be paid to the student at a rate of $500 per semester.
The duration of the scholarship will be for 4 consecutive years and the scholarship recipient is required to do the following:
The recipient must attend at least one Shawnee Rotary Club meeting before December 2021. To initiate the scholarship, the recipient must present proof of enrollment in an accredited college or university, and an official school transcript indicating Grade Point Average achieved after the first semester.
This is required before the first check will be issued. The student must take a minimum of 12 hours per semester and maintain at least a 2.0 GPA.
As I looked over those 10 applications, maintaining that GPA for this group of applicants should be no problem.
In reading and reviewing these applications, I found these students to be extremely bright, hard working and what appeared to be a high work ethic.
Each was ranked within the top 10 to 12 percent of his or her class.
We, as Rotarians, take this project quite seriously. I for one found it really difficult in making the decision to give the number of points in each category.
It was a privilege to have participated again and good luck to this year’s recipient.