Guest Column: An Example of Service for Future Leaders

The following column for SRQ Daily was written by Mark Pritchett, President and CEO:

Every spring, we get to make a fun announcement that resonates throughout our region. What is that special proclamation? Well, Gulf Coast Community Foundation just awarded 451 scholarships worth $544,000 to help hundreds of local students pursue their college dreams next year.

Our scholarship recipients demonstrate a significant financial need bolstered by a strong dose of academic excellence and civic service. Gulf Coast staff helps read the applications of each student. Their stories are heartwarming and amazing.

Like the college senior, raised by her grandparents because her dad was absent and her mom struggles with addiction. Despite her family difficulties and financial burdens, she has become a student leader who excels academically while working to pay her way through school. Her big heart, genuine optimism, and unflagging enthusiasm leapt off the page (or screen, rather, as our scholarship program lives completely online now).

Here’s another: a high school senior who is literally on his own. Incarceration and illness in his family left him without a permanent guardian, but they haven’t extinguished his life ambitions or love for learning. He’s eager to become a physicist, and while the universe is the limit for his curiosity, his goal is making this world a better place.

To read more, please continue to the June 17 edition of SRQ Daily.