Schools

$30K in Scholarships Available for Castro Valley Students

Application period opens today for 22 scholarships from Castro Valley Educational Foundation worth more than $30,000

High school seniors in Castro Valley can begin applying today for 22 college scholarships worth more than $30,000.

The scholarships range in value from $250 to $20,000. They are administered by the Castro Valley Educational Foundation.

The non-profit organization has an online application that takes students 10 to 15 minutes to fill out. The single form makes applicants available for any of the 22 scholarships.

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The deadline for filing is April 1.

The financial awards are only available to Castro Valley residents. The students must be attending a college or trade school in fall 2011.

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"It's great because applicants don't have to compete with kids from all over the nation," said Neal Fong, the vice president of the foundation.

Last year, 108 teens applied and 27 scholarships were given out.

The scholarships are donated by organizations, businesses and individuals.

The largest prize is the $20,000 Dr. Mary Jane Stamm Scholarship. It provides students who excel academically with $5,000 for each of their first four years of school. Dr. Stamm left the foundation an endowment of $750,000 when she died in 2007.

The Castro Valley Rotary Club provides two scholarships of $2,500 each.

Fong said there are a variety of other scholarships for applicants from athletes to health care majors to students of the arts to nursing majors.

"You don't have to be the top student," said Fong. "We want all our Castro Valley kids to succeed."

Fong said even the smaller scholarships can be helpful.

"In today's landscape with budget cuts and the cost of education rising, kids need every little bit of help they can get," he said.

The Educational Foundation has been awarding scholarships for almost 30 years.


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