San Mateo Rotary Awards Nearly $83K in Scholarships

From the San Mateo County Convention and Visitor's Bureau:

In a banner year for the 170 member Rotary Club of San Mateo, graduating high school seniors with a financial need were awarded $82, 800 in scholarship money to help with their first year in either community college or a four year college. Community college students were awarded $18,689 and four year college applicants $61,111. The Four Year Scholarship Committees is chaired by John Root and Margaret Taylor and the Two-Year Scholarship Committee by Sue Lempert, with numerous Rotarians involved in the interviewing process preceding the awards.

The club raised the money through year-round fundraising efforts, including a raffle, a 5 and 10 K Fun Run and a classic car show. In addition, club “recognition fines” dedicated to the club’s foundation go into the money made available for scholarships.

Separate from the two and four –year college scholarships is the San Mateo Rotary’s SMART program, a program aimed at keeping middle school students on track through high school. The SMART program is for eighth graders who might never consider college as an option down the road, due to their family’s financial situation. Students are selected annually from interviews with Rotarians, based upon their potential and motivation, as well as input from the school. Bank accounts of $500 each are opened for the 30 students at Boston Private Bank and annual academic, personal and extracurricular goals are set with each student. Throughout high school, follow-up is made by Rotarian coaches to ensure that the goals are met. SMART coaches approve yearly $100 increases in SMART student accounts.

Upon graduation from high school, the scholarship awards are paid to the students heading on to college. (SMART students may also apply for the other Rotary scholarships.) Over the years the SMART project has been in place 811 middle school students have been helped with a total of $675,000. For the years 2013, 2014 and 2015, 90% of the students in the SMART program ended up enrolling in college. The SMART program is chaired by former Hillsdale High School Principal Don Leydig.

With state school tuitions on the rise, the club actively looks for people to participate in the fall fun run, the spring raffle and the summer car show. Information on all three may be found on the club’s website.

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