Community Foundation of Westmoreland County

We are FR Scholarships

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 28, 2016 – This June, a member of the Class of 2016 of Franklin Regional School District will be awarded a college scholarship of up to $1,300 from the We Are FR Scholarship Fund. The scholarship will be awarded to a graduating senior who has a commitment to serving the community and is in need of financial assistance. Applications are due March 31. A volunteer committee appointed by the Community Foundation of Westmoreland County will meet in late April to review applications. The award will be announced in June.

“The We Are FR Scholarship Fund is a testament to the resilience and generosity of the people of Westmoreland County. Thanks to our donors, we were able to meet the immediate medical needs of the affected students and endow a substantial scholarship fund that will defray college costs for Franklin Regional graduates in perpetuity,” said Phil Koch, executive director of the Community Foundation of Westmoreland County, the organization administering the We Are FR Scholarship fund. 

Scholarship information and applications were sent to Franklin Regional School District guidance counselors in December of last year. The deadline for students to submit their applications to their guidance counselor is March 31. Applicants must be high school seniors graduating from Franklin Regional High School, have a GPA of 2.5 or higher, demonstrate financial need and submit an essay describing how community service, including their own volunteer work, contributes to a stronger community. 

History of the We Are FR Regional Scholarship fund: After an April 2014 school violence incident at Franklin Regional High School in which 20 students and one adult were injured, more than $130,000 in donations poured in from the community. Those donations were initially deposited in a fund at S&T Bank, and a portion of those funds were used to cover medical and travel expenses for families of students injured in the incident and to fund crisis counseling and other mental health needs for students and faculty in the district. 

The remaining funds — $34,032 as of Oct. 2015 — were utilized to create a permanent scholarship fund at the Community Foundation of Westmoreland County. The We Are FR Scholarship Fund will grow in perpetuity as a result of investment income and continued donations from the community. To make a donation to the Fund, please click here. Click here for scholarship application details. 

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The Community Foundation of Westmoreland County encourages local residents to become philanthropists, provides grants that support a wide variety of charitable organizations and serves as a community leader. Since its inception in 1995, the CFWC has grown to nearly 200 funds valued at $21 million and has granted more $14 million to local nonprofit organizations. The organization merged with The Pittsburgh Foundation in 2010. More information is available at http://www.cfwestmoreland.org/ or by calling 724-836-4400.