SELCO Community Credit Union awards $50,000 in college scholarships to 20 Oregon students in 30th year of program
Oregon credit union gets creative with new virtual ceremony to celebrate this year’s recipients of $2,500 individual scholarships
EUGENE, OR (June 10, 2020) — SELCO Community Credit Union celebrated its 30th year of its annual scholarship program by awarding $50,000 in college scholarships to 20 graduating high school seniors throughout Oregon. Each scholarship recipient will receive $2,500 to use toward college-related expenses.
SELCO started its scholarship program in 1991 as an important component to its mission to aid member-owners in achieving their financial and educational goals. In the past five years alone, SELCO has awarded nearly $200,000 in scholarships through this program.
As in the past, SELCO’s Scholarship Committee chose the recipients from applicants representing all 27 Oregon counties that SELCO serves. But this year, the entirety of the review process happened remotely to keep with physical distancing.
For the first time, this year’s scholarships will be awarded on June 12 via SELCO’s virtual scholarship ceremony, which will be hosted live on Instagram (@selcoccu) and replaces SELCO’s traditional scholarship luncheon. And SELCO was asked by numerous schools to take part in virtual graduation ceremonies via video, which acknowledged many of these exceptional seniors.
“This year’s graduating seniors are facing unprecedented obstacles, and for that reason we are truly thankful that we are able to help this impressive group of students pursue their dreams,” said Craig Carpenter, SELCO’s senior vice president of lending and business solutions. “Since teachers founded the credit union more than 80 years ago, SELCO has embraced education as a core tenet to its mission of improving the financial health of all its members. The importance of that mission is growing as the needs of our member-owners have increased during this challenging period.”
To qualify, recipients had to be graduating from a four-year accredited high school in Oregon, have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5, and plan to attend an accredited two- or four-year college or university.
In addition, every applicant was asked to submit an essay that answers the question: “You get to spend the next year of your life in either the past or the future. What year would you travel to, and how would you use what you learned upon your return?”
“Like every facet of the credit union business, the scholarship selection process was affected by the health crisis,” Carpenter said. “Even measuring each students’ credentials was unusual, as each applicant finished their high school careers remotely. But we managed to find solutions to keep this important program thriving.”
The 2019-20 SELCO Scholarship recipients are:
- Alexandria Chastain – Ridgeview High School, Redmond
- Casey Johnson – Central Christian School, Redmond
- Cassidy Cummings – La Pine High School, La Pine
- Cody Pickett – Mountain View High School, Bend
- Isabelle Wynne – Central Christian School, Redmond
- Jevan La Marche – Summit High School, Bend
- Katie Elliott – Elliott Family Home School, Redmond
- Sarah Kilroy – Redmond Proficiency Academy, Redmond
- Shannon Hoyer – Mountain View High School, Bend
- Sydney Pickett – Mountain View High School, Bend
- Risa Thompson – Crane Union High School, Diamond
- Benjamin Weber – South Eugene High School, Eugene
- Brooke Moser – Willamette High School, Eugene
- Elizabeth Ortiz – Willamette High School, Eugene
- Gabriel Knox – Harrisburg High School, Harrisburg
- Jasmine Izucar – Cottage Grove High School, Cottage Grove
- Marcella Weiss – Thurston High School, Springfield
- Maya Reddy – Pleasant Hill High School, Pleasant Hill
- Zachary Pennel – Triangle Lake Charter School, Deadwood
- Amira Tripp Folsom – La Salle Catholic College Preparatory, Portland
For a complete list of the 2019–20 SELCO Scholarship recipients, including photos, visit selco.org/scholarship-recipients-2020.
About SELCO Community Credit Union
Founded nearly 90 years ago by a group of fiscally minded teachers, Springfield-based SELCO Community Credit Union today serves more than 150,000 members as one of the largest and longest-standing Oregon-based credit unions. A not-for-profit, federally insured, member-driven financial cooperative with more than $2.7 billion in assets, SELCO provides its member-owners with exceptional rates and low fees on a full range of financial products and services, including banking, mortgages, personal and business loans, investments, and insurance. Membership is available to anyone who lives or works in one of the 27 Oregon or eight Washington counties SELCO serves. For more information or to become a member today, stop by one of SELCO’s 15 branches, visit selco.org, or call 800-445-4483.
