Community Foundation Announces Winners of Class of 2025 Scholarship Challenge

WATERTOWN — Four school districts across Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties were recently  named winners of the Community Foundation’s Class of 2025 Scholarship Challenge and earned a share of  $5,000 in grant funding.  

 Three school districts — one in each county the Community Foundation serves — each received a $1,000  grant and a fourth was awarded the top Scholarship Challenge grant of $2,000. 

 Lewis County’s South Lewis Central School District is the top grant winner with 32 percent, or 15, of its  47 seniors submitting scholarship applications. 

 “We appreciate all the work the Community Foundation team put into making this scholarship completion  campaign so successful,” South Lewis High School Counselor Julie Burmingham said. “How exciting for our  seniors!”  

 Winning school districts receiving a $1,000 grant are: Jefferson County’s LaFargeville Central School with 56 percent, or 22, of its 39 seniors submitting applications; Lewis County’s Copenhagen Central School with 50 percent, or 11, of its 22 seniors submitting applications; and St. Lawrence County’s Lisbon Central  School with 37 percent, or 17, of its 46 seniors submitting applications. 

 Schools selected for grant awards were chosen at random during two Community Foundation Facebook  Live events. Grant funding may be used to support a schoolwide initiative or project chosen by the senior  class officers at the winning schools. 

 The challenge sought to inspire greater participation in the Foundation’s scholarship program from the  Class of 2025 and give schools a chance to win grant support for on-campus programs or initiatives.  The Community Foundation’s scholarship program supports graduating seniors pursuing further education whether at an accredited college, university, technical, or trade school. 

 The Scholarship Challenge was open to all schools in Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties. To be  eligible, schools had to achieve at least 25 percent participation from their senior class in submitting scholarship  applications by the Foundation’s March 15 deadline.  

 “It was great to see the schools participate in a spirited competition, especially knowing that by increasing  the participation rate, everyone wins,” said Rande S. Richardson, Community Foundation executive director.  “We are grateful for everyone who helped make this our most successful year ever, which will better enable  us to align the needs of local students with the generosity of donors.” 

 Throughout the challenge, the Community Foundation reported progress at the end of each week on its  Facebook and Instagram channels. 

 A record 24 percent, or 604 of the 2,472 members of the Class of 2025 in Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence  counties applied for Community Foundation scholarship support by this year’s deadline.   In Jefferson County, 30 percent, or 356, of the 1,181 seniors in the county’s 13 school districts applied.  Lewis County saw 30 percent. or 79, of the 261 seniors in the county’s five school districts apply, while St. Lawrence County saw 16 percent, or 169, of the 1,030 seniors in the county’s 18 school districts complete  a scholarship application. 

 Since the application for high school seniors closed on March 15, the Foundation’s Scholarship and  Program team has been hard at work scoring student applications and collaborating with scholarship committee members and fundholders to match applicants with potential awards. In most cases, students and school  districts will be notified of student selection before graduation in June. 

 In partnership with donors and tri-county school districts, the Community Foundation last year awarded  $1.33 million in scholarship support to 583 graduating high school seniors from Jefferson, Lewis, and  St. Lawrence counties. The average award in 2024 was $2,250 per student. In many cases, eligible students  were awarded more than one scholarship to pursue their educational goals. 

 Contact Mary Perrine, scholarship and program manager, 315-782-7110, or [email protected], or Tara Hess, scholarship and program associate, [email protected], with questions about Community Foundation scholarships. 

 From left: LaFargeville High School Guidance  Counselor Kassondra Gosson; senior Jasey Lennox,  Class of 2025 treasurer; senior Ella Porter, Class  of 2025 president; senior Morgan LaBow, Class of  2025 vice president; senior Danielle Alcombrack,  Class of 2025 secretary; and Travis Hoover, district  superintendent. 

Members of Copenhagen Central School’s Class of 2025  surrounds class officers, from left, Ayva Herzberg,  treasurer, Alexis Villeneuve, vice president, and Maddy  Carrol, president, as they hold a $1,000 ceremonial check.  Absent from photo is Julia Richardson, class secretary.