By Katie McGregor, Aberdeen High School Intern
Spoiler: Every parent, grandparent and student of Grays Harbor needs to read this article, or be left without valuable knowledge that could change your life or the life of a loved one forever.
Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist, once said, “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
While I certainly believe that fear is a mental barrier on the road to achieving your dreams, in this day and time, other obstacles often appear. One of the most common obstacles is money, or one might say, lack of money. With the current state of the economy it’s much harder to get a job, go to college and do other things that were more affordable 20 years ago. Fortunately, there are still ways to do these things and achieve your dreams! To be more specific, there are ways for students of Grays Harbor to get a head start on their futures. Thanks to the Grays Harbor Community Foundation, there is a way for students to access money that can help them fund their education.
Back in 1994, when the Grays Harbor Community Foundation started, they had one $1,000 scholarship to offer. Since then they’ve grown and now offer everything from $1,000 scholarships to $20,000 scholarships. While the foundation has done many things that have contributed to their growth over the past 20 years, it really all comes down to the people of the Harbor. Many people have no idea what the Grays Harbor Community Foundation does. Or that it even exists, for that matter. And, I have to confess. Before I started working on this article I only had a general idea of what they did. The Grays Harbor Community Foundation is a vehicle for people that want to donate money that will go to bettering the lives of people in Grays Harbor. The citizens of Grays Harbor are the ones who provide the funds that help make our community a better place.
When someone donates money to the foundation it goes into an endowment fund. This means that if you donate $100,000 to the Grays Harbor Community Foundation, they never touch that money. They only take the earnings off of it. Instead, they invest all of the donated money and distribute all of the proceeds throughout the community.
Just recently, they’ve been providing funds for improving technology in schools, and in 2014 they awarded $535,000 worth of scholarships to 335 students across the Harbor. All of these scholarships ranged from $1,000 to $20,000 and many are renewable for four years. This means that if you were awarded a $1,500 scholarship, keep your grade average above 3.0, and stay in school, you could end up with $6,000 total.
Now, I’m sure many of you are now wondering how all of these scholarships are made possible. That’s a good question! As previously mentioned, all of the funding for the Grays Harbor Community Foundation is provided by the citizens of the Harbor. When you donate money to the foundation you can either choose specifically how you want it to be used, or have it go into the general fund. If you choose to donate money to the scholarship program you can either create a scholarship under your name or allow the money to go into the general scholarship fund. If you choose to create your own scholarship you can set your own requirements for applicants. You can choose to make a scholarship that only students from certain schools qualify for, or you can make it a requirement that they’re going into a certain field (e.g. someone who is pursuing a career in engineering), or you can be more general with your requirements.
What’s really cool is when the Scholarship Awards Ceremony takes place and the donors get to meet the recipients. This makes it so much more personal to both the donors and recipients.
So if you’re a student, how can you be getting ready to apply for scholarships? While the Grays Harbor Community Foundation used to look strictly at grades and grade point average, they now look for well rounded students. Academics, need, extracurricular activities, and improvement are all factors that go into choosing the recipients of the available scholarships.
The great thing is, anyone can qualify for these scholarships – as long as you are a student of Grays Harbor, you can apply. The Grays Harbor Community Foundation is a big supporter of returning students, meaning, if you’ve been out of high school for a while and are going back to school, the foundation has scholarships that are available to you. It’s even okay if you graduated from high school in a different state. The only requirement is that you currently live in Grays Harbor.
If you want to apply, you can do it all on the Grays Harbor Community Foundation’s website here. Be sure to apply early, and when applying, keep in mind that the scholarship committee always looks at the essays, and they are a large part of the final decision. But no matter what kind of student you are, be sure to apply. The Grays Harbor Community Foundation supports students going to four year universities, students returning to school, and even students going to specific trade schools (beauty school, chef school, etc.). You also qualify if you haven’t yet decided what you want to do with your future. And it’s okay if you haven’t chosen your major yet, you can still be looked upon favorably by the scholarship committee. They love receiving applications and enjoy getting a diverse selection of applicants to choose from.
While scholarships are a big part of what the Grays Harbor Community Foundation provides for the community, it should also be known that the foundation focuses on other parts of the Harbor as well. Besides education, they have funds for health and wellness and historical preservation. They’ve put a lot of money into things like improving and repairing the 7th Street Theatre, the murals throughout downtown, and even the Weatherwax Wave statue memorial. Also unknown to most people is that the Grays Harbor Community Foundation is a big supporter of local food banks and Coastal Harvest.
While the Grays Harbor Community Foundation certainly makes a difference in the lives of people on the Harbor, it all comes down to the people themselves. None of this is possible without you! Thanks to all of the generous donors around the Harbor students can pursue their dreams and have promising futures. Now it’s time to think of your loved ones, kids, grandchildren, or even talented students that you know of. Tell them of the possibilities and opportunities made available by the donations of the good people of Grays Harbor in partnership with the Grays Harbor Community Foundation. Let’s make a great future.
