Feb 24, 2017

Scholarships Help Fund Tomorrow’s Professionals Today By Tim Hodson

The cost of earning a college degree continues to rise every year making it very difficult for many students.

Fortunately, there are many different scholarship programs out there that are helping these young men and women complete their educations and help ease the financial burden.

Every January we recognize the GPN/Nexus Intern of the Year — one college student who participated in an extraordinary industry internship program.

This year’s Intern of the Year, Gray Davis at the University of Georgia, completed an intensive and comprehensive six-month internship at Metrolina Greenhouses in Huntersville, North Carolina. For his efforts, Gray received a check for $3,000, was featured in the January issue of GPN and will be attending Cultivate’17 later this year in Columbus, Ohio.

Right now, the American Floral Endowment (AFE) wants college students to know about the different scholarships it has to offer — and that the deadline to apply for them is rapidly approaching.

Last year, AFE awarded nearly $40,000 in scholarships. In 2017, AFE will be awarding more than 20 different scholarships to college students studying floriculture and horticulture. The scholarships range from $500 to $6,000.

The scholarships are offered to sophomore, junior, senior and graduate students and are available in three different categories:

• Scholarships for undergraduate students only.
• Scholarships for undergraduate or graduate students.
• Scholarships for graduate students only.

Applicants looking for more information on the AFE scholarships can go to endowment.org/scholarships. There you will find the descriptions of the different scholarships as well as the qualification requirements.

To be eligible, all students must submit their online applications and related materials by May 1.

“AFE is focused on attracting and retaining the next generation of industry professionals,” AFE Executive Director Debi Chedester said. “We award scholarships to students each year to help them toward becoming exceptional industry leaders.”

You can learn more about AFE’s 2016 scholarship recipients, by visiting endowment.org.

If you know any college students that are looking for financial help to continue their horticulture education, please let them know they only have a few more weeks to apply for the AFE scholarships.

— Tim