Simsbury-Granby Rotary Club Offers Scholarship

The Simsbury-Granby Rotary Club announce it will award $17,000 in scholarships to Simsbury and Granby college-bound students in 2011 and welcomes applicants. 

The club will award five scholarships to help qualified students who lack adequate financial resources to pursue a college education. The awards will include one $5,000 Ed Dodge Scholarship and four $3,000 Rotary Scholarships.

The Ed Dodge Scholarship is named in honor of Eliot P. (Ed) Dodge, former Rotarian and principal of Simsbury High School. Dodge was a charter member of the Simsbury-Granby Rotary Club and active from 1947 to 1993. From 1933 to 1960, he served Simsbury’s youth as a math teacher and Simsbury High School principal.

To be eligible for the Ed Dodge and Rotary Scholarships, students must either be a member of the senior class at Simsbury High School or Granby High School or be a Simsbury or Granby resident and a college-bound graduating senior. Students may apply for both scholarships, however are eligible to receive only one.

The Ed Dodge Scholarship will be awarded to a student accepted into a four-year, degree-granting program at an accredited college or university at the time of the award and demonstrating his or her need for financial assistance.

The Rotary Scholarships will be awarded to students accepted into a four-year, degree-granting program at an accredited college or university or a two-year program at an accredited junior or community college at the time of the award and demonstrating a need for financial assistance. 

Applications for the scholarships must be submitted by April 22, 2011. 

For more information about and application forms for scholarships, visit the club’s website at www.simsburyrotary.org. Information and applications are also available at the guidance departments of Simsbury and Granby high schools or by contacting Dr. Jerry Graham, chairman of the scholarship committee, Simsbury-Granby Rotary Club, P.O. Box 251, Simsbury, CT 06070 or by email at GFGDDS@gmail.com.

 The Simsbury-Granby Rotary Club is part of a worldwide organization of business, professional and community leaders. Founded in Chicago in 1905 as the world’s first service organization, Rotary today has approximately 1.2 million members in more than 33,000 clubs and more than 200 countries.  

Members of Rotary Clubs provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. Clubs are nonreligious, nongovernmental and are open to every race, culture, and creed.

From a global perspective, PolioPlus is Rotary’s flagship program. By leading the way to immunize over two billion children against polio, thousands of Rotary volunteers have helped to virtually eradicate this dreadful disease. On the local front, contributions from the Simsbury-Granby Rotary Club have enabled such projects as the Rotary Park playground on Iron Horse Boulevard in Simsbury, the hosting of international professional exchange programs, as well as the funding of scholarships to enable local students to achieve a college education.

The local Rotary Club has also supported the Simsbury band shell with a donation of $50,000, and contributes to such organizations as Foodshare and the Salvation Army on a regular basis. More information about the Simsbury-Granby Rotary Club or Rotary International is available at www.simsburyrotary.org and www.rotary.org.