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COLUMBIA — The South Carolina State Fair has announced the 2024 recipients of its annual Ride of Your Life Scholarship program.
This year, 53 high school seniors across the state have been chosen to receive these prestigious $10,000 scholarships. Three are from The T&D Region:
• Gabrielle Jourdain — Calhoun Academy
• Jackston Nance — Orangeburg High School for Health Professions
• Drew Young — Dorchester Academy
Thanks to a generous $34,000 donation from Circle K and EMC Tickets, the S.C. State Fair was able to award an additional three scholarships, increasing the total from 50 to 53. One of the 53 scholarships was exclusively designated for a Circle K employee or dependent.
“We’re thrilled to announce this year’s scholarship recipients and to invest in these students’ futures,” said Nancy Smith, South Carolina State Fair general manager. “Our scholarship program is at the heart of what we do here at the South Carolina State Fair, and supporting future scholars from our state means a great deal to our organization.”
Each year, the South Carolina State Fair, a self-supporting 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, awards scholarships to South Carolina high school students planning to pursue their studies at any public or private college, university or technical college in South Carolina. These $10,000 scholarships are awarded at an annual rate of $2,500 and are based on academic and extracurricular achievement, communication skills, need and completeness of the application.
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This year, applicants were asked to write an essay responding to the thought-provoking question, “If you could have a theme song, what would it be and why?
“One thing that struck me most was how the answers seemed to connect me with the individuals. It is amazing how much you can learn about a person’s life through their connection with a song,” says Smith. “This essay prompt allowed us to really see just how interesting, how deep, and how creative this year’s applicants were.”
The S.C. State Fair has a long history of supporting education, and the Ride of Your Life Scholarship program is just one of the many ways in which the organization gives back to the community. Since the program’s inception in 1997, the S.C. State Fair has awarded more than $5 million in scholarships.
This year’s recipients were chosen from a competitive pool of applicants from across the state, representing all seven of South Carolina’s congressional districts. The scholarship funds must be used at a South Carolina university, college, or institution and may cover tuition or other educational expenses such as on-campus housing, a computer or textbooks. Recipients must retain a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale and enroll in no less than 30 credit hours each academic year to receive funding for that year.
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