MSCI scholarship program awards exceed $1 million

A college scholarship program started in 2002 by the Florida Chapter of the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI), Boca Raton, Fla., has expanded throughout the U.S. and Canada and has awarded more than $1 million to more than 450 students, all of them the children of MSCI member-company employees.

The scholarships are awarded and primarily funded by the 28 active MSCI chapters, with matching annual contributions to each chapter of up to $7,500 from the trade association's national organization.

Each scholarship-awarding chapter independently decides how much money and how many scholarships to award each year. Each chapter runs its own program of soliciting and evaluating applications. Common to all, however, is that they are awarded to children of member-company employees in a blind, no-names-used procedure.

A large percentage of scholarship winners earned high school grade point averages of 4.0 to 5.0, counting honors and advanced placement courses. Service to the community has been a significant characteristic of award winners, such as students who have organized large, successful fund drives for charities; participated in food banks; created mentorship programs; and one who founded Hispanic Youth Voice of Tampa. Winners have aspired to become doctors, engineers, medical and genetic researchers, diplomats, civil rights workers, and team members at NASA.