Southern Scholarship Foundation, Tuesday September 8, 2009 

At the weekly club luncheon on Tuesday, September 8th, of the Chipley Kiwanis Club, the program was presented by Ms. Courtney Stombock, Chief Development Officer for the Southern Scholarship Foundation.  Ms. Stombock informed the club that one of her purposes in visiting Chipley is to encourage more students from the Panhandle of Florida to apply for assistance to the Foundation.

The Southern Scholarship Foundation provides housing to eligible students at four universities in Florida:  University of Florida, Florida State University, Florida A&M and Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers.  The Foundation has 25 houses on the four university campuses with 17-20 students in each house.  The houses are on campus.  In order to qualify, students have to maintain a 3.0 or higher grade point average.  All students have to drug and alcohol free.

The houses are separate for male and female students.  Students are chosen from all over Florida.  Almost all students have part time jobs.  The Foundation tries to choose students who need assistance the most.

William Lemmon , a student at FSU, explained how the houses are run.  Each house has student officers.  Each house has a budget to cover the cost of utilities and food, while the Foundation absorbs maintenance costs.  The residents cook and clean.  The process of balancing the budget and maintaining the house helps them prepare for life.

More information about the Southern Scholarship Foundation can be found at www. southernscholarship.org.

A group of Kiwanis members from the Bonifay Kiwanis Club was also in attendance.  Their spokesman announced the 65th Annual Northwest Florida Championship Rodeo which will be held on October 1st, 2nd and 3rd at Memorial Field in Bonifay.  More information is available at www.bonifayrodeo.org.