Township Association creates scholarships for county seniors

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The Champaign County Township Association started two new scholarship opportunities for Champaign County seniors this year.

Township Association member and Goshen Township Trustee Tim Cassady said the township association has been working on developing a scholarship program over two years. It wanted to create another opportunity for area students to succeed after high school.

“We thought it might be a good way to both educate young people in county about township government and also reward two deserving students from within our own county,” he said.

The township association is composed of trustees and fiscal officers from the 12 townships in Champaign County.

Cassady said the Township Association scholarship program is modeled after the one set up by the Ohio Township Association.

Each township association scholarship awards $500 to a senior planning to attend an accredited two- or four-year college or university next year. The college must be a public or private not-for-profit institution. One scholarship is for Academic Achievement, and the other is for Community Involvement.

The academic scholarship requires a student to have at least a “B” average (cumulative) or equivalent overall GPA and have at least a 22 ACT or 1,000 SAT score.

The community involvement scholarship requires a student to demonstrate outstanding citizenship through service and participation in community activities.

Both scholarships require the student to be a senior in the 2015-16 school year, be a U.S. citizen and a resident of Champaign County.

Winners of the Ohio Township Association 4-H Local Government Scholarship are not eligible for these two new scholarships. A student can apply for both, but cannot win both.

Applications are due April 1; awardees will be notified by May 10. Both scholarships will be awarded this spring, Cassady said, and the association has enough donations in the bank to award both scholarships for next school year as well.

To avoid conflicts of interests, Cassady said, the awarding of the scholarships falls on a committee developed by the county’s guidance counselors. No township trustees or officials are involved with determining the recipients.

Scholarship dollars come strictly from donations; no taxpayer dollars are used. Donations to the scholarship fund may be made by contacting any township trustee in the county, or by contacting the fiscal officer of any of the townships. Cassady added the organization will hold area fundraisers to help maintain the scholarships.

Donations can also be sent to CCTA Scholarship Fund, c/o Fiscal Officer Barb Moore, P.O. Box 37, Cable OH 43009. Donors may remain anonymous. All donations will be used only for the two scholarships and if at some point the group wishes to not continue the program, the remaining balance is to be sent to the Ohio Township Association as a donation to the OTA Scholarship program from Champaign County.

Applications for scholarships can be obtained from the guidance counselors at each school district in Champaign County.

By Casey S. Elliott

[email protected]

Casey S. Elliott may be reached at 937-652-1331 ext. 1772 or on Twitter @UDCElliott.

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