Nevada R-5 Foundation continues to grow and to provide scholarships

Friday, March 14, 2008

The Nevada R-5 School District's Foundation is growing every year, according to Shirley Rainey, who continues to administer the program even though she's retired from her post with the district.

For years, Rainey said, school officials were looking for ways to provide more scholarships and to create a mechanism through which local residents could offer help to local students with the added advantage of reaping the tax benefits of donating to a non-profit. That mechanism came in the form of the foundation, officially formed in 1995.

First of all, Rainey said, "We have to strongly recognize and support the patrons of our district," who provide generous funding for scholarships.

"Support has been very good," she added.

The foundation is primarily responsible for the solicitation and distribution of scholarships for Nevada High School students, especially since a significant number of them go on to further their education at colleges, universities and technical schools.

For the students, applying is easy. Interested students can apply for about 70 of the available scholarships by filling out just one application that "we have made every effort to make available to them online," Rainey said. Information for donors is also available online.

Once the application deadline closes -- the Friday before spring break -- a committee comprised of five community members, one school board members and three school representatives pores through the applications and selects award recipients.

"We spend a lot of time doing this. It is a very time-consuming process," Rainey said, and the committee tries to spread the scholarships around in order to help as many students as possible.

Last year, thanks to two anonymous donations, the foundation was able to award more than usual to students. The foundation was able to distribute a total of $130,000 in awards, with 110 unduplicated scholarships to 96 recipients.

All of the money received through the foundation goes toward scholarships; no administrative costs are subtracted.

This year, Rainey said, the district expects that 65 to 70 percent of seniors plan to go on to some sort of institution of higher learning, noting that she hopes they have turned in applications for the scholarships.

The foundation accepts contributions of any amount.

There also are annual or perpetual scholarships. A $5,000 minimum is required for perpetual scholarships, because "we don't dip into the principal on those," Rainey said.

Donors are recognized in the annual scholarship dinner, held annually on the Friday prior to graduation.

For more information, visit www.nevada.k12.

mo.us; then click on the Nevada R-5 Foundation link.

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