The Yuma University of Arizona Alumni Club has awarded $60,000 in scholarships to 37 high school seniors or junior college students heading to Tucson in the fall.

Since 1991, the Yuma Chapter has awarded over 500 scholarships worth $877,000 to Yuma youth. The club's goal is to become the first non-profit organization to award over $1 million in scholarships to local Yuman scholars.

The Yuma University of Arizona Alumni Club raises money throughout the year with a number of different activities, and then they invite these incredible students to apply for the funds, said Melinda Burke, president and executive director of the U of A Alumni Association.

I think it is a remarkable display of community pride and a demonstration of their commitment to higher education.

The scholarships were announced during a banquet held at the Yuma Civic Center April 30.

We look for the best and the brightest, but 90 percent of our scholarship winners are in the top 10 percent of their class, said Jeff Byrd, President of the Yuma University of Arizona Alumni Club, during the banquet.

We offer scholarships to every person that is in the to five percent of their class, and tonight we've got four or five valedictorians, so we are really proud.

The banquet was a celebration of the past and the future, Burke noted.

These are alumni who want to share the kind of experience and the great education they had at the University of Arizona with these young adults who are just starting off in their careers. It is the quintessential pay it forward.

What is most rewarding is when you see these kids you gave a scholarship to 10 or 15 years ago come back as a doctor, lawyer or farmer, and watch them thrive because of the U of A experience, Byrd continued.

Excerpt from:
Yuma students awarded $60K in scholarship funds