Photo: Sue Zimmerman (left) and Kiarra Womack, Scholarships and Special Projects Manager, on the first day of Selby Scholarship interviews. Together with Susan Gorin and Selby Scholar Alumni Monserrat Aguilera Contreras, Sue volunteered to give students a warm welcome when they arrived.
Your mind and heart would expand if you spent a week talking with 60 extraordinary young people–one on one–about their lives and aspirations for the future.
Last week, Selby Foundation staff and dedicated Scholarship Selection Committee members interviewed semi-finalists for our signature Selby Scholars program. Each of them had a story to tell, a passion for using their education to help others, an impressive collection of achievements.
We felt full, hopeful, and inspired after this amazing time with them.
These students will soon celebrate graduation from high school before moving on to the next chapter of life. Some will be first generation college students; others will be first generation high school graduates. Imagine (or remember) the excitement of a new life ahead of you–new challenges, new people, new knowledge, new experiences. You might start feeling butterflies about the unknown while you recognize the vast possibilities of the moment.
The next few weeks will be filled with large celebrations at high school graduation ceremonies and thousands of smaller ones, as families recognize the incredible accomplishments of their college-bound youth.
The Selby Foundation’s investment in students helps to create exciting futures for outstanding young leaders. We can do this work because of two people. Bill and Marie Selby did not have children of their own but wanted to ensure other youth had access to the opportunity they deserved.
Many of our nonprofit grant partners have roles in developing and nurturing the students who become Selby Scholars, and we know they also celebrate the new journeys ahead.
It’s just the beginning. Cheers to new possibilities!