WE DID IT!

Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis Class of 2024-25 New Scholars

Worldwide, certain types of rituals are common across cultures. Communities come together to announce births, mark passages to adulthood, recognize jobs well done, and mourn deaths. On Saturday, August 3^rd in the gymnasium and halls of Cardinal Ritter College Prep, The Scholarship Foundation welcomed nearly 300 VIPs as they came to celebrate the region’s students.

To belabor the obvious, it’s worth noting that it was a hard year. FAFSA fiascos, college closures, dismantling of DEI, politicization of everything, and an economy that leaves many just trying to survive made more than a few days dismal and yet, THE SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION AND THE COMMUNITY IT SERVES HAS AMPLE REASON TO CELEBRATE.

Four months ago, the Words of Faith blogpost was entitled An Anxious April 15. These words close the piece:

Today, we have seven million “last dollars” to award before students report to campus in August. More than three-quarters of those dollars are available in the form of scholarship grants. The barriers and time constraints are too exhausting to name and some perhaps yet unknown as the FAFSA is not yet “fixed.” But watch us get it done anyway.

And “WE DID IT!” was indeed the refrain for the day. The room contained a wonderful mix of humanity. Students, parents, grandparents, guardians, and friends cheered and snapped selfies as awards were announced. Donors and board members (individual, corporate, foundation) sat at tables with grannies and teens, meeting scholars and cheering wildly. Scholarship Foundation staff, mostly standing at the back, fought tears as Scholarship Foundation student and policy fellow Tori Bezzole-Hershey told her own story and shared words of encouragement for the young people just embarking on a new chapter in their lives. Scholarship Foundation alumni were peppered throughout the room, from proud staff of partner youth agencies to corporate counsel for major donors to the founding owner of the planning company engaged to put the event itself together.

The region may boast its sports teams and the Gateway Arch, but the penultimate CIVIC PRIDE could be found in the gym and the halls that Saturday. The energy and promise of these young people are so clear. Investing and engaging and expecting the best is our collective duty to them. We are well on our way!

New students awarded the rootEd Scholarship met in Columbia, Missouri to receive their awards and celebrate with their advisors and families in late July.

PARTNERS IN THE ROOM