High school seniors, you still have three weeks to apply for the Charles A. Reid Memorial scholarship through Independence Bank. February 20th is the deadline.
Charles A. Reid was the founder of Independence bank. As a young man, Charles could not afford to go to college so he joined the Navy and used his GI Bill for college when he returned. Reid’s granddaughter, Lauren Patton, says it was always his dream to start a scholarship program to help young people attend college. “In 2001, we gave out our first scholarship, which was a dream come true for granddad. He was able to see it because he passed in 2002.”
Since then, the Independence Bank Scholarship Program has grown tremendously. “We started with a $2,000 scholarship that first year,” Patton said. “This year we’ll be awarding $90,000 among 35 different recipients.” Four of those scholarships are $10,000 awards. In total, the Independence Bank Scholarship Program has awarded $485,000 in scholarship money since 2001 – and it all started with the Charles A. Reid scholarship.
In addition to the Charles A. Reid Memorial Scholarship, there is also a $10,000 Ed Reisz Scholarship, which is awarded to a pharmacy student, and a $10,000 Guy Reisz Scholarship, which is awarded to a student entering KWC.
Independence Bank now has 20 branches in nine counties. The community boards in each of the nine counties have started a community grant scholarship which is awarded to a student from their specific county.
This year’s recipients will be awarded scholarships on March 25th. What sets the Independence Bank Scholarship Program apart is how they determine the winners because they don’t just award the top students in the class. “We look at the whole student. We do look at grades, transcripts, and ACT scores. But since Independence Bank is so community focused, we also look at the applicant’s community involvement and what school organizations they are involved in,” Patton said. “Each applicant is also asked to submit a statement about their financial need.”
For the Charles A. Reid Scholarship, a committee narrows the field down to one finalist from each of the nine counties. Those nine finalists then have an in-person interview with the committee.
Applications can be found at all Independence Bank locations, as well as online at http://www.1776bank.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Scholarship-Application-2015.pdf.
