Kiwanis selects 2012 scholars for $35,000 in awards

The Kiwanis Club of Longboat Key, through its tax-exempt scholarship foundation, recently selected 19 Sarasota and Manatee County youth to be the recipients of its annual scholarship awards. There will be five individuals attending the Manatee Technical Institute, each receiving $1,250 awards, and 14 students attending four-year degree granting institutions. Each traditional university student will be given a scholarship in the amount of $2,000.

Seventy seven applied, and Scholarship Chairman Weldon Frost indicated his committee of Dr. Larry Kassouf, Glenn Peterson, Matt Walsh and Dr. Jim Whitman had put in multiple hours of review and analysis to arrive at the winners. Criteria to obtain the scholarships included residency and proximity of institutions attended, grade point average, outside public service activities and an essay. Kiwanis of LBK received a record number of applications and through the success of its fundraising activities will provide $35,000 worth of help to local students attending local institutions of post secondary education.

Included in the four-year category were 10 women and four men, and in the technical education program three women and two men. All 19 have been invited to attend a Kiwanis breakfast Aug. 16, before leaving for State College of Florida (three), Ringling School of Art and Design (two), University of Florida (two), Florida State (two), USF (one each to Tampa, St. Pete and Sarasota-Manatee campuses), University of Central Florida, and Southeastern University in Lakeland.

The local chapter has a mission statement that seeks to help local youth and organizations in the two-county area, in fundraising, and through International dues supports projects like stamping out maternal neo-natal tetanus. Kiwanis of LBK has also supported St Jude Children’s Hospital through its Gourmet Lawn Party, set for Nov. 17 this year.

Kiwanis will also award a minimum of $15,000 in grants to organizations benefiting local youth in need. A different committee selects these grants from organizations that come before the club at weekly breakfasts to talk about their programs in our two-county area.

Citizen support of our Kiwanis activities like the Gourmet Lawn Party and Valentine’s Dinner Dance help Kiwanis help children, as Kiwanis is committed to “serving the children of the world.”