By MEGHAN McCOY
mmccoy@breezenewspapers.com
Seventeen students will be recognized Wednesday during the Cape Coral Mayors Scholarship Fund annual awards banquet at the Resort at Marina Village.
The social hour will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a dinner following at 7:30 p.m. on May 4. The mayors comments and presentation will begin at 8:30 p.m. at The Resort at Marina Village.
Karen Baker, president of the Cape Coral Mayors Scholarship Fund, said they are celebrating their 29th year of providing scholarships to Cape Coral students. Four years later the banquet was introduced, so they could further celebrate the students and give them recognition for receiving the scholarships.
“We want them to shine,” Baker said about the students.
Baker said in 1982 a meeting was called to form a non-profit, non-partisan and non-political group that would make up the Cape Coral Mayors Fund. She said there were six people that they know of who attended that initial meeting. A few years later the group changed its name to the Cape Coral Mayors Scholarship Fund.
When the fund first began they provided a $250 scholarship, which was later raised to $500 for a few years before it increased to $1,000. Baker said after they realized that things were changing, they decided to increase the amount of the scholarships to $1,500.
“We are hoping that next year there will be a break where we scoot it up a little bit,” she said about the scholarship amount.
With the 17 students who will receive a scholarship on Wednesday, a total of $950,000 will have been given away in scholarships since 1982.
Last year, Baker said they were only able to provide 13 students with scholarships due to the economic downfall.
For the students to be considered for the scholarship they have to live in Cape Coral, but do not have to attend a Cape Coral school. If they meet that requirement they have to submit a typed application, provide letters of reference, and their school transcripts, along with sharing their volunteer work.
Baker said each student sits through an interview with five committee members. She said 50 percent of their score is based on their application and essay and the remaining 50 percent is based on the interview.
“The numbers are put in and we grade from the top down,” Baker said.
She said they have always looked at all aspects of the student’s academic career to be considered for the scholarship, along with going though an interview process.
“They have been working towards this their whole high school year,” Baker said.
The Cape Coral Mayors Scholarship Fund continue to seek additional support from the community and surrounding areas to donate funds to provide to the scholarship fund.
For more on the program, and the essays submitted by this year’s 17 recipients, see the Tuesday Breeze for the program booklet.