Salute to Education, the scholarship program funded by the South Florida Ford and Lincoln dealers for the past 21 years, has announced it currently is accepting applications online for one of 50 $1,500 college scholarships. They also will be awarding each scholarship winner with a laptop computer in addition to the scholarship grant.
Deadline to submit the applications online is Feb. 2 at midnight.
This year, the South Florida Ford and Lincoln dealers will be awarding $75,000 in college scholarships to 50 graduating high school seniors from Miami-Dade County public and private high schools.
Students may apply online at www.stescholarships.org. Students who apply must meet the criteria and requirements listed on the Salute to Education website. Applicants must complete a series of personal questions, including four essay questions, as part of the application process. Scholarship guidelines require an applicant to choose from one of the six categories in which he/she is qualified. The categories are:
1) Athletics,
2) Arts – Foreign Language & Language Arts,
3) Arts-Performing Arts and Visual Arts,
4) Leadership/Service,
5) Sciences-Mathematical Sciences & Computer Science, and
6) Sciences-Natural Science.
Only one category may be chosen per applicant.
A Scholarship Committee comprised of participating dealers, Ford executives, community, civic and educational leaders judge the applications and select the 50 scholarship winners from Miami-Dade County. Another 50 scholarship winners from Broward County are chosen as well. A total of $150,000 in scholarships will be awarded. Scholarship recipients will be honored at the annual Salute to Education Scholarship Awards Luncheon on June 6 at the Signature Grand in Davie.
“We recognize the tremendous potential in the students within our community and we are committed to continue helping them pursue their dreams of a higher education,” said David Menten, president of Salute to Education and president of Sawgrass Ford. “With the consistent rise in college tuition, students have come to rely on scholarships like ours to help fund their education. Although we continue to live in challenging economic times, the South Florida Ford and Lincoln dealers are still committed to continue granting Salute to Education scholarships and assisting high school seniors in South Florida with their collegiate educational goals.”
For the past 21 years, the Miami-Dade and Broward County Ford and Lincoln Dealers have awarded more than $3.6 million in scholarships to more than 4,000 deserving public and private high school seniors in both Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Established in 1994, Salute to Education is a non-profit organization funded through dealership contributions and corporate support from several divisions within Ford Motor Company.