Colby students earn scholarship rewards
COLBY, Kan.- Sunflower Bank awarded three scholarships to Michael Juenemann, Elizabeth Erickson and Jared Flanagin at the close of the bank’s first annual Community Ambassadors program.
Juenemann, Erickson, and Flanagin received $1000, $500, and $250 scholarships, respectively, in part for a contemplative essay during the program and also for stellar academic and scholastic achievement throughout the year.
Sunflower Bank’s Community Ambassadors scholarship program is designed to encourage young people to consider their hometown community as a viable place to live and work after completing their higher education, and to help foster entrepreneurship and financial responsibility among youth leaders.
The select high school seniors attended 3-to-4 hour sessions once a month for seven months. Session topics included financial basics, local government, economic development, and business leadership.
“We’re extremely proud of all our Community Ambassadors and hope we’ve given them an insight into the importance of their home community,” said Max Mountford, president of Sunflower Bank Colby. “We hope the seminars help paint Colby not only as their hometown – but also a future destination.”
Sunflower Bank’s Community Ambassadors Scholarship Program provides three scholarships given locally within a Community Ambassadors class – a $1,000 scholarship, a $500 scholarship and a $250 scholarship. In addition, three additional $1000 scholarship recipients will be selected from the pool of all communities’ scholarship applicants.
Juenemann, the grand-prize $1000 scholarship winner, will attend Colby Community College in the fall to focus on business and agriculture and hopes to complete his education at Fort Hays State. Erickson will attend Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, pursuing a degree in geology while staying focused on music. Flanagin also will attend Colby Community College and pursue a career in agriculture.