Rotary Club offering scholarships

The Rotary Club of Madison-Ridgeland is offering $5,000 in scholarships to graduating seniors from Madison County schools.

Recipients of the scholarships will be determined by an essay contest sponsored annually by the club.

The contest will award a $2,500 scholarship for first prize, $1,500 for second prize, and $1,000 for third. The essay contest is named in memory of the late Jimmy Nelson, a charter club member and longtime scholarship chairman who died in 2016.

The theme of the essay contest is "The Importance of Being an Active Member of a Community Service Club." Madison-Ridgeland Rotary uses this scholarship to encourage students to look for opportunities to serve their community.  

"We are very proud that we have increased the total in scholarship awards by $2,000 this year," said M-R Rotary Club President Jessica Cooley of Carraway Cooley PLLC. "The essay contest is a great opportunity for Madison County seniors and an important way to connect them with Rotary and our program of work."

Students interested in applying for the scholarship have until Friday, April 21, 2023 to enter. For criteria information, students should contact their high school administrators or academic advisors, or M-R Rotary Scholarship Chairman Layne Bruce, lbruce@mspress.org.

The M-R Club is a chapter of Rotary International, a global civic organization whose mission is to provide service to others through fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders.