Page 1 – History Page 2 – Letter to Club Presidents
Sophomore of the Year
2008-09
History:
Walter Hurst was a long time member of the Texas-Oklahoma Foundation Board and financial supporter of the Texas-Oklahoma Foundation.
He
proposed and lobbied the Texas-Oklahoma Board for three years to start a
scholarship fund for sophomores. Finally
in 1979-80* they agreed to start the “Walter Hurst Sophomore of the Year
scholarship.” In recent years, the
program has normally been referred to as “Sophomore of
the Year.”
The
Scholarship award is not based on academics, but on leadership qualities. A goal is to seek out, recognize and develop
leadership potential commencing with high school sophomores, and to encourage
and prepare the next generation of civic and corporate leadership for
A
second goal is to help sophomores gain experience in applying for scholarships.
A third goal is to educate people in the schools and communities about the Kiwanis organization.
The
number of scholarships awarded from year to year depends on the amount of money
available from the Texas Oklahoma Foundation.
Each club in the District is asked to contribute a minimum
of
$5 per member as an annual gift to the Foundation. Special recognition is given for a gift of
$10 per member. Twenty $600 scholarships
will be awarded in 2009.
The
awardees are given a personalized plaque and a letter of instruction on how to
receive the award upon entering a school of higher learning.
In
addition to the scholarships given at the district level, many clubs award
scholarships from their club fund. The
Foundation requests that clubs giving scholarships use a name slightly
different as to avoid confusion when the time comes for the students to receive
their funds.
*According to Marvin Sapaugh, the first convention where
the Sophomore of the Year scholarship recipients were
selected and recognized was the 1980 Texas-Oklahoma District Convention in
KIWANIS CLUB PRESIDENT
INSTRUCTIONS
SOPHOMORE OF THE YEAR 2008-09
Instructions
and application forms for this year’s Sophomore of the
Year application are available on the T-O Foundation web site at www.TOFoundation.org. A printed copy will be mailed to each club
and given to each new Lt. Governor.
Your high school will not receive applications. Your club is responsible for taking a copy
of the forms to each of the high schools in your area or seeing that they know
how to retrieve the information. This is
for ANY High School Sophomore, NOT just Key Club members.
Please encourage participation in
this great program. The Texas-Oklahoma District Foundation will award 20 $600
scholarships at the District’s Mid-Winter Board meeting February 13-14, 2009.
This is a great program to encourage Sophomores to
start thinking about their college education and scholarship money.
Please
follow the guidelines below.
1. You or your Youth Service Chairman should fill in the
name of your club, division number, and the name of your Lt. Governor at the
bottom of the application. Make as many copies as you need.
2. Please take the applications to your schools as soon
as you receive them.
3.
Applications are due back to the student’s school by
November 14.
4.
You or your Youth Services Chairman should pick up
completed applications no later than the week of November 17.
5.
Your club will pick one winner to send to your Lt.
Governor by December 10, 2008. Only one application may be chosen to send. PLEASE CHECK TO MAKE SURE YOUR SELECTION
MEETS THE GUIDELINES GIVEN!
6.
The Lt. Governor must determine one finalist from the
Division, and send that application and certification form to the
Chairman. The application must be postmarked
by December 22, 2008.
7. On February 13-14 at the Mid-Winter Board meeting, the
winners will be announced. Plaques for
the winners will be given to the respective Lt. Governors to present to the
winners at their local divisions.
8. Certificates
will NOT be provided by District for any other applicants. Letters of
regret will be sent to those not chosen for a scholarship at the District
level. Lt. Governors should notify each
division applicant about their choice.
Clubs should notify their applicants about their choice.
Please
take this opportunity to publicize your club’s participation by submitting
pictures and articles about the presentation in your local newspapers.