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Violet Township Women’s League

Violet Township Women’s League scholarship program hits $100,000 milestone

By Nate Ellis

February 17, 2020

The Violet Township Women’s League will reach milestones in giving in 2020 through its annual scholarship program.

Thanks to donations from members, businesses and others in the community, as well as funds raised through the club’s annual Scholarship Style Show & Luncheon, the organization has been able to provide financial assistance to graduating seniors who live in the Pickerington Schools district and Violet Township as they pursue higher education at four-year colleges, two-year associate’s-degree colleges and trade schools.

This year, the women’s league will increase the number of $2,600 scholarships it awards from its traditional four to five.

When the awards are handed out April 18 during the style show and luncheon, they will make a total of 50 scholarships the league has awarded since it started its program 21 years ago.

It also will be a total of $104,600 in scholarships awarded.

“It’s a community-service scholarship,” said Debbie Fast, the women’s league scholarship committee co-chairwoman. “We want to reward students for outstanding community service.

“We want to recognize, reward and encourage participation in community service.”

Students who live in Violet Township and the Pickerington Schools district, even if they attend a school outside of the district or are home schooled, are eligible for the scholarships.

Applications are available from school counselors, and they can be found online at vtwl.org.

The deadline to submit a scholarship application is March 13.

“They have to be postmarked by March 13,” Fast said.

Women’s league publicity co-chairwoman Linda Fersch said the organization has been able to grow its scholarship program because of donations from community members. She said the business community has been integral in the program’s growth.

“Proceeds from raffle baskets provide the money for the scholarships, as well as donations from VTWL members and 160 businesses from all over Ohio,” Fersch said.

“Donations last year were received from businesses in Pickerington, Dublin, Columbus, Powell, Canal Winchester, Reynoldsburg, Lancaster, Groveport, Granville, Grove City, Dayton, Pataskala, Chillicothe, Mason, Newark, Cincinnati and Lithopolis.”

Fast said this year’s scholarship recipients will be notified April 3 and asked to attend a scholarship presentation at the style show, which will be held at 10 a.m. April 18 at the Jefferson Golf and Country Club, 7272 Jefferson Meadows Drive, in Blacklick.

More than 185 raffle items and gift certificates, as well as a 50/50 raffle, also are planned for the show.

“We want to award local students for good work and this is another opportunity to get them some financial assistance so they can continue their educations,” Fast said.

Previous scholarship winners were:

* 2000 -- Laura Diewald

* 2001 -- Andy Daubenmier

* 2002 -- Jennifer Anderson

* 2003 -- Scott Walsh

* 2004 -- Shelby Grey

* 2005 -- Aalok Modi

* 2006 -- Bonnie Chow

* 2007 -- Stacie Honacker

* 2008 -- Sean Murphy and Nathan Corder

* 2009 -- Christen Johnson and Kaitlyn Osborne

* 2010 -- Haley Nieman and Stephen Poyer

* 2011 -- Lindsay Fisher and Shane Brunner

* 2012 -- Siyu Liu, Rease Johnson and Rachel Hoser

* 2013 -- Laura Diewald, Nathaniel Griffin and Shannon Brennan

* 2014 -- Lea Fisher, Kristen Culbertson and Hannah Schlaerth

* 2015 -- Catherine Wang, Sydney Hoppe, Leah Nutter and Anna Bower

* 2016 -- Emily Culp, Jonathan Kluczynski, Rachel Beller and Madison Tracy

* 2017 -- Maggie Farrell, Jesse Krieger, Marisa Planck and Manasa Vanguri

* 2018 -- Caleb Marsh, Maryam Mohammed-Norgen, Jeremiah Oconer and Hannah McFeeters

* 2019 -- Daniel Costa Griffaton, Hannah Kitsmiller, Jason Keith Orr and Natalie