Contact | Mountain America Credit Union's Elevate Scholarship Program

(upbeat music) - Mountain America Credit Union is launching its second year of its Elevate Scholarship Program.

It'll grant 120 scholarships to high school students, so they can pursue higher education this coming fall.

Sharlene Wells is here to tell us more.

Hi, Sharlene.

Thanks for being here.

- Hi, Mary.

Oh, great to be with you.

- It's so great you give all these students a chance at higher education.

So tell me about it.

- You know, this is so much fun, our second year of going into $300,000, and to give 120 students $2,500 each, it might not seem like a whole lot, but it gives them that shot in the arm that says, you know what?

I can do this.

I can go to higher education, because we reach out to a group that maybe falls through the cracks.

They might not beat the best scholars at their high school, but they are hard workers, and they're just such great students.

We're really proud of them.

- And I know you cover a six-state area.

- We do.

- So you spread wide, and what are the criteria?

- So that's one of my favorite parts because only 20% of the scholarship is academic, which means 80% is really reflective of our Mountain America values, which is character, work ethic, leadership qualities, community involvement.

Those are the kinds of things we're really looking for.

So these good students that, I don't know, may have two jobs, or they're on the Mayor's council or things like that.

That's the kind of student that we're looking for, the kind that we might hire, right?

So... - Ah, yeah, yeah.

You, yeah.

I think that's great that you do that and then tell me.

They can take a gap year.

They can maybe be in the service and still apply.

- We learned that last year, that that was really important, especially in this area, because there's so many that serve, whether it's religious service or military service or humanitarian.

So if they graduate Spring 21, they can still apply for a Fall 24 scholarship if they have not started higher education yet, and this counts for trade school, for, you know, college, community college, anything like that.

- Wonderful, well, thank you for what you do and thanks for being here.

- Absolutely.

Thank you.

- And if you would like to know more about the Mountain America Elevate Scholarship Program.

Easy, go to macu.com/graduate, macu.com/graduate, and the deadline is February 11th for applying.

I'm Mary Dickson.

Thanks for watching Contact.

(upbeat music) - Local events, arts, culture.

It's what brings us together.

Hi, I'm Mary Dickson.

Here on Contact, we introduce you to local events and organizations that serve your neighborhood.

If you work for a nonprofit and would like to appear on our show, please visit pbsutah.org/contact.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sa7SZ6arn1%2BrtqWxzmikqK2eqa6quoyapJ6qmZiubq%2FRnpuirF2qu6q7zWZqb6hkob9w