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By: Staff
After achieving his dreams thanks to his education, teachers and the administration at Mountain Home Public Schools, Larry Choate and his wife, Kathy Choate, are paying it forward to future students in STEM programs.
The Choates have donated $100,000 to the Mountain Home Education Foundation to create a scholarship and grant supporting STEM education at Mountain Home Public Schools.
Larry Choate, a 1964 graduate of Mountain Home High School, credited a Hallmark Card Foundation scholarship with helping him succeed.
Choate says, “My progress through life was on a steadily rising course, all based on education. After being awarded a Hallmark Card Foundation scholarship, my chart was practically straight up after that. That scholarship enabled me to attend my first choice college and inspired me to learn at the highest level.”
The Choate Family Scholarship will benefit Mountain Home High School students who have excelled in STEM, maintained a strong academic record and demonstrated outstanding character. Positive community involvement will also be considered.
Up to four $1,000 scholarships will be awarded annually, with payments distributed in two installments during the recipients’ freshman year at an accredited post-secondary institution.
Choate says, “The whole point of this is that an educational scholarship can be the most pivotal point in a person’s life. I was lucky to earn the opportunity and run with it. My wife of 50 years, Kathy, and I want to help provide that inspiration to others by endowing the Choate Family Scholarship, to be awarded perpetually to a promising student or students at MHHS who are willing to put in the work in the STEM fields.”
In addition to the scholarships, the Larry and Kathy Choate STEM Educational Grant will support MHPS teachers and STEM-focused projects. After scholarships are awarded, remaining funds from the Choate Endowment will first support the MHPS Robotics Program, followed by other STEM initiatives.
Choate says “My personal opinion is that STEM education is and will be the most critical link in ensuring the continuing prosperity of the United States of America. Hopefully, these students will receive the boost they need to achieve, like us, their American Dream.”
Applications for Larry and Kathy Choate STEM Scholarship and other post-secondary education scholarships can be found at https://www.mountainhomeeducationfoundation.com/traditional-scholarship.html.
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