The Abbotsford Community Foundation (ACF) has 317 awards totaling $280,000 available for graduating students attending high schools in Abbotsford School District this year. The online application form and directory describing the scholarships, bursaries and general awards can be found at www.abbotsfordcf.org/StudentAwards.html .
“Thanks to the generosity of many community groups, companies and individuals, this year we have a record number of awards available to help students planning to continue on with post-secondary education, including university, college and training institutions, after they graduate,” said Susan McAlevy, executive director of ACF.
The Foundation has organized its directory into four categories so students can identify awards they are eligible to apply for, as well as complete an online application form. Students can apply for up to 20 awards.
“Many of our awards have very specific criteria but others are more general so it’s worthwhile for students to review all the award descriptions and many are not based on high academic achievement so all grads should consider applying”, said McAlevy. The deadline for students to submit their award application package to their student counsellor is Friday, March 7, 2014.
“We invite our donors to participate, in an advisory capacity, in recommending their award recipients, McAlevy explained. “Each year we hold a Donor Advisory Evening where donors review applications and choose candidates. ACF’s Student Awards Selection Committee then reviews the recommendations and selects the remaining award recipients.” Approximately 50 per cent of donors take part in this process and the remaining request that the committee select their award recipients. The Selection Committee is made up of school counsellors from all the participating high schools.
Student awards are funded from income from endowments and from annual donations. This year there are several new student awards including: the Rotary Club of Abbotsford – Sumas “Service above Self” Award; Mamele’awt Aboriginal Education Award; Scott Gmur Memorial Award and the Eveline Hardy Memorial Award.
The following high schools are part of ACF’s Student Awards Program: Abbotsford Senior Secondary, Abbotsford School of Integrated Arts (ASIA), Abbotsford Traditional Secondary, Bakerview Centre for Learning, Mennonite Educational Institute Secondary (MEI), Rick Hansen Secondary, Robert Bateman Secondary, W. J. Mouat Secondary and Yale Secondary.