Preparing for your next step after high school can be nerve-wracking for some students, especially when it comes to paying for college.
But for more than 90 high school students across Shawnee County, the process just became a little easier.
Ian Mead, a senior at Hayden High School, said his older sister always told him how important it is to apply for scholarships during senior year, so doing so came naturally.
The Topeka Community Foundation on Tuesday awarded more than $140,000 in scholarships to more than 90 high school recipients.
Marsha Pope, Topeka Community Foundation president, said while a number of scholarships are awarded to students pursuing their education in a specific field of study, many others provide general financial assistance.
Mead was awarded $1,000 for pursuing higher education in advertising and public relations.
“I say don’t postpone. I did a very good job at procrastinating and not filling out scholarships soon,” Mead said. “Make sure to get them done fast and have people look at your essays.”
For Riley Wurtz, Hayden High School senior, applying for a scholarship through Topeka Community Foundation was easy. She was eligible because she wanted to major in biology, health sciences or nursing and had a 3.0 GPA. Wurtz was awarded $500 and will attend Wichita State University to study exercise science.
“This is going to release some of the financial burden off of me paying for my college, because I got some scholarships just based off of GPA and other things like that,” Wurtz said. “I still have a lot left to pay, so this is going to help go to that.”
The foundation, with more than $110 million in assets, manages more than 400 separate funds, including scholarship funds, for individuals, businesses and charitable organizations, a news release said.
“The mission of the Topeka Community Foundation is to connect donors with their interests and community needs, increase charitable giving in the community,” Pope said. “Provide leadership on key community issues and ensure stewardship and accountability for effective community investment of donor dollars.”
Recipients were to be honored at a Tuesday reception at the Topeka Country Club.
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Keishera Lately is the business reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. She can be reached at klately@cjonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @Lately_KT.