CU Foundation MD|DC Announces 2020 Scholarship Winners

One hundred four volunteer judges scored over 3,000 application assignments covering three separate categories to arrive at the twelve scholarship winners in the 2020 Credit Union College Scholarship competition sponsored by the Credit Union Foundation MD|DC.  Each winner will be awarded $1,000 to foster their educational goals.

“In the face of challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, application numbers were close to historic levels, our judges stepped up to score those applications, and now we’re ready to award scholarships to college- and trade school-bound students,” said Kyle Swisher, Foundation Executive Director.

The competition includes three separate categories to which applicants may apply; essay, photo, and video.  Each category this year had a futuristic theme, with the essay and photo categories challenging applicants to imagine personal financial services in the year 2030.  The photo category, too, was forward-thinking and required submissions to reflect the theme, “Innovation.”

“I thoroughly enjoy scoring applications,” said veteran judge Lois Profili, CEO/President at First Eagle FCU.  “Every essay is scored by at least four judges and all judges – more than 100 of us – are encouraged to score the photo and video submissions.  That makes for a lot of assignments, but the Foundation’s online scoring portal makes rating pretty easy.

“You can learn a lot from these young credit union members on how they view our services and what they would like to see in terms of meeting their personal finance needs.”

Applications were received from members of fifty-two local credit unions.  Every credit union with member participation received a report on their member’s submissions and are encouraged to reach out to those young members even if they fell shy of a scholarship award.

“The scholarship program provides a rare opportunity for credit unions to connect with their youth members and foster a relationship with them.  Plus, each applicant learns more about the credit union difference in preparing their essays, photos and one-minute videos,” added Swisher.

To view all of the 2020 scholarship-winning submissions, visit www.cufound.org/cuscholarship where you can also volunteer to judge in the 2021 competition.