From staff reports
Now in its fifth year of awarding scholarships, the North Clarion Alumni Association with the support of the North Clarion Foundation presented two $1,000 Scholarship awards to North Clarion seniors at their awards day.
These awards are for the top academic student or Valedictorian and the top student in the technical trade program.
The academic award had a unique five way tie this year with Kaine McFarland, , Kaleb Wolbert, Andrew Costner Owen Shaffer and Katelyn Bauer winning the award.
All awards winners will be attending colleges or universities in the summer or fall this year. Kaine McFarland will be attending Penn West Clarion majoring in fisheries and wildlife, Kaleb Wolbert is enrolled at Penn State Behrend majoring in biology, Andrew Castner will attend Grove City pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering, Owen Shaffer will attend Slippery Rock majoring in physics and Katelyn Bauer will be attending Penn West Clarion pursuing a degree in early childhood education and elementary education.
Molly Ellenberger, the career/technical award winner is enrolled this fall at the University of Pittsburgh Greensburg where she will pursue a degree in nursing.
Scholarship background
The scholarship idea was initiated five years ago by Dan Gordon, a North Clarion Class of 1971 alumnus, who had an idea to provide a scholarship for the Valedictorian of the Class of 2021.
In the past five years the alumni classes reaching their 50-year anniversary of graduation were challenged to fund one or two awards to give time to fund a North Clarion Scholarship endowment which would provide future scholarship awards. Any funds these classes raised over their $2,000 goal were applied to a North Clarion scholarship endowment fund. Those classes from 1969 to 1972 enthusiastically responded raising over $14,000, among them and presented seven $1,000 awards. This year’s class of 1973 raised close to $3,000 also donating roughly $1,000 to the endowment.
The North Clarion endowment fund will begin providing scholarship awards to seniors starting in 2024. Almost $19,000 has been raised to date for this fund. The goal is to continue to provide two $1,000 scholarships to seniors at North Clarion each year from this fund.
Offering scholarships to both the Valedictorian(s) and top career technical student is a unique proposition in the state. No other high school alumni group offers these awards. The North Clarion alumni are proud of their efforts and the ability to reward these scholarships.
Efforts going forward
Fundraising for the endowment continues throughout the year. The primary method for fund raising has been to send out donation letters to alumni. Each year donation letters are sent out to three or four alumni classes to raise funds. Funding is open to any individual or business and is not limited to North Clarion alumni.
If you would like to find out more about the scholarship and how to donate, information can be found, on the home page of the North Clarion High School website www.northclarion.org at the North Clarion Alumni Facebook site or by contacting northclarionscholarship@gmail.com.