More than 900 students have earned financial awards from the convenience store chain since it launched the Believe and Achieve program seven years ago.

Cumberland Farms is awarding a total of $130,000 in Believe and Achieve Scholarships to 130 high school seniors from 11 states to assist them with college fees this fall. 
Now in its seventh year, the scholarship program provides $1,000 scholarships to eligible graduating high school seniors across its service area. This year, scholarships went to 27 students in Massachusetts, 23 in Florida, 20 in New York, 16 in Pennsylvania, 13 in New Jersey, 11 in Connecticut, eight in Maine, four each in New Hampshire and Rhode Island, three in Vermont and one in Delaware.

“Cumberland Farms has a long history of charitable giving among youth causes,” said Gwen Forman, vice president of marketing for Cumberland Farms, which operates convenience stores in 11 states. “One of our key focus areas is education. Believe and Achieve fits nicely with that because it helps promising students who would like to get a college education.”

Thanks to the assistance provided by these scholarships, students will be attending a wide cross-section of institutions this fall, including Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Purdue, University of Massachusetts, Clemson, University of Michigan, Princeton, University of Florida, University of Southern California, New York University, University of Miami and more.

“We all know how stressful the cost of education can be—not just for the kids but for the parents as well—and this scholarship can help offset those costs,” Forman said.

Time to Learn
The Believe and Achieve scholarship program is open to students entering a full-time undergraduate course of study at an accredited college, university or vocational-technical school in the fall of 2013 who live within 30 miles of any Cumberland Farms store. “We look at their academic performance and extra curricular activities, but also their financial need,” said Forman. 

A third party reviews each of the applicants according to the requirements and selects the recipients. This year’s winners were notified in August.
The application process for next year’s scholarship program will open in October 2013.

“We’re going to continue to offer the Believe and Achieve Scholarships for the foreseeable future and look forward to our fall of 2014 folks entering their colleges of choice,” Forman said.

Since formalizing its Corporate Giving Program seven years ago, Cumberland Farms has donated millions of dollars in cash and products to causes that directly benefit thousands of young people through scholarships, direct-to-school programs, youth sports, local fundraising and more. During its Cups for Kids campaign, for example, convenience store retailers raise funds for hospitals that provide medical care to children.