2008 Scholarship Committee Report

Scholarships Make a Real Difference

by Mar' Hartley, Chair
Foundation Fund Scholarship Committee

Last year was a banner year for the Columbus Board of REALTORS® Foundation Fund in making a difference in the lives of some very deserving young people trying to further their education. Last year the Foundation Fund Scholarship Sub-Committee was able to award scholarships valued at nearly $20,000.

Because of the wide range of work they accomplish, the Scholarships Committee was granted status as a regular committee of the Board beginning in 2008. The work of the committee now includes soliciting applications for, and awarding financial assistance in three areas.

REALTORS® Foundation General Scholarships -- The committee receives applications through the end of March for general scholarships, interviews will be conducted and the scholarship awards will be announced by June. Last year the committee awarded over $6,000 in general scholarship assistance.

John G. Hondros Scholarships -- The committee will be receiving applications, also through March, for at least two John G. Hondros Scholarships. Each of these scholarships to attend Hondros College includes 30 hours of pre-license education, applicable to either classroom or on-line offerings, and each has a value of over $1,800.

Southeast Career Center Scholarships --  The committee also participates in the awarding of scholarship assistance to high school students graduating from trades programs at Southeast Career Center. The funds are made possible through a charitable trust established in 1976 by the Columbus Board of REALTORS® and the Columbus Public Schools in an effort to promote real estate-related and construction education to students at the Southeast Career Center. Last year the committee awarded Southeast Career Center Scholarships valued at over $8,000.

The CBR Scholarships Committee can help you make a difference too.

Gifts received last year by the REALTOR® Foundation Fund from the Builder REALTOR® Alliance Committee, from the friends of Nate Katz, and from the proceeds of the Foundation Fund Annual Celebrity Waiter Luncheon will, in all likelihood, increase the scholarship assistance that will be available during 2008. Many others in our industry are making gifts to the REALTOR® Foundation Fund as well, finding it a very appropriate way of honoring or memorializing an associate, friend or family member.

On a personal note, I have witnessed the difference that receiving any amount of scholarship assistance can make in the lives of the students that we have been able to help. What a hard job it is; but actually, what a wonderful opportunity it is to meet and interview these students, and to get to know them by hearing their stories. It may seem a daunting task at the time, but the looks on the faces of the students and the thank you notes received afterwards make me say to myself?. "Oh yeah, that's why we are doing this."

The members that serve on the Scholarship Committee are sincerely interested in finding new sources of such gifts, and new opportunities to provide scholarship assistance to deserving young students.

Why don't you make that one of your "personal goals" starting now, in 2008?

For more information about CBR's scholarship programs, click here or contact: Scholarship Committee Chair Mar' Hartley, Real Living HER, 891-7400; or Brianna George, Columbus Board of REALTORS®, 475-4000, ext. 247.