Eleven local sixth- and eleventh-grade students were chosen to receive the 2014 Connecticut Higher Education Trust Advance Scholarship recently.
The Meriden, Wallingford, and Southington students were honored by state Treasurer Denise L. Nappier at a ceremony at the Legislative Office Building last month that included all 200 student recipients across the state.
Winners were chosen randomly from a pool of 3,784 applicants representing 101 public schools, 13 parochial schools, and one independent school, according to a statement from Nappier’s office. A total of $500,000 was distributed to students.
Nappier, as trustee of CHET, sponsors the scholarship, which is funded by TIAA-CREF Tuition Financing, Inc., and The Hartford.
Sixth-graders Brooke Lathe, Yursa Shaban, Dylan Craft, Julian Sinclair, and Lisbeth Torres, from Washington Middle School in Meriden; as well as Elizabeth Overstrum, from Dag Hammarskjold Middle School in Wallingford; received $2,000 scholarships each, with the option of receiving an additional $500 if their families save $500 in a CHET account by the time the students go to college. To be eligible for the award, students had only to apply and attend sixth grade at a school in Connecticut.
Meriden students Ryiah Khan, from Maloney High School, and Joy Kwentoh, from Platt High School; as well as Wallingford’s Justin Blair, from Lyman Hall High School; and Southington’s Brendan Carroll and Veronica Viturale each received $2,500 scholarships.
To qualify, high school juniors had to have a grade point average of at least 2.0 at a school in Connecticut, and intend to attend college.
“The CHET Advance Scholarships will help 200 students and their families meet the costs of college, and I am so excited to see them one step closer to realizing their academic potential,” Nappier said.
According to information available online by CHET, the scholarship money can be used for qualified higher education expenses at eligible institutions. Those expenses include tuition, fees, and the cost of books, supplies, and equipment.
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