South Florida Fair Awards 14 College Scholarships
West Palm Beach, Fla. –– The South Florida Fair has awarded 14
scholarships to students ranging from $1,000 to $4,000 for a grand total of $23,500. The funds can be used at any accredited institution of their choice. The scholarship program is sponsored by FPL.
Rick Vymlatil, the Fair’s president and CEO, Craig Elmore, chairman of the Fair’s board, and Lorie Stinson, the Fair’s special events manager, announced the winners during the Fair’s Scholarship Night. The scholarship recipients were selected from a pool of 88 applicants from high school seniors in Broward, Hendry, Martin, Okeechobee and Palm Beach counties. The scholarship categories were general, arts and entertainment, agriculture and band.
The process began last August when the Fair sent applications to participating high schools. Part of the application process included writing a 200 word essay entitled, “How I Would Benefit from Receiving This Scholarship,” as well as including two letters of recommendation. The students had until the end of October 2012 to send their applications. The South Florida Fair Scholarship Committee reviewed the applications. The qualifying students were then interviewed in January and were notified of the committee’s decision shortly after that.
The Fair collects money for these scholarships from its annual golf tournament and uses part of the proceeds from its silent auction. Since 1982, the Fair has raised $450,000 in scholarship money. In addition to these 14 scholarships, the Fair will give one student a $3,000 Palm Beach Post Pathfinder scholarship to be awarded in May. The Fair also will give a $2,500 scholarship to Palm Beach State College to present to a student of its choosing. Florida Atlantic University also will receive a $2,500 scholarship from the proceeds of the James Patterson event that was held during the Fair.
The South Florida Fair is produced by the South Florida Fair/Palm Beach County Expositions, Inc., a nonprofit organization, and is located at 9067 Southern Boulevard in West Palm Beach. The 2014 Fair is slated for Jan. 17 through Feb. 2, 2014. For more information, call 561-793-0333 or visit the website, .