By John Lofstock, Editor-in-Chief, Convenience Store Decisions
As the founder of Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes, John MacDougall was a longtime supporter of the National Advisory Group (NAG). In his personal life, he was also a strong supporter of higher education. To remember John’s work and his longtime support of NAG, we are proud for the second year to offer the John MacDougall/NAG Memorial Scholarship to NAG members.
We all know the importance of a well-educated workforce and the c-store landscape is certainly no exception. The NAG scholarship fund will help qualified individuals to offset some of these costs. Among NAG’s core mission is to help to cultivate and groom the convenience store leaders of tomorrow. In keeping with that theme, NAG created this scholarship fund for employees and children of NAG member companies.
This fund is important to NAG because college graduates earn, on average, $20,000 more per year than someone with just a high school diploma, according to a report by The College Board. The cost of attending college may seem daunting, but that’s exactly why finding, applying for, and receiving scholarships are essential to avoid big student loans. Scholarships are no longer a bonus. They’re crucial for bridging the gap between the increasing cost of tuition and what families can afford to pay out of pocket.
THE PROGRAM
The NAG Scholarship Fund is managed by the NAG Board of Directors, Convenience Store Decisions and Scholarship America, and sponsored by the retailer and supplier members of NAG. This program was started in the late 1990’s and has distributed more than 90 scholarships totaling more nearly $100,000 to deserving students. The fund is financed through annual dues collections by NAG members and drives from golf outings and conference sponsorship allocations.
ELIGIBILITY
Applicants who work in the c-store industry must be employees or children of employees with at least one-year of employment with a NAG member company. Applicants must plan to enroll in full- or part-time undergraduate courses at an accredited two- or four-year college, university or vocational-technical school.
Applicants who are current students or who have attended school within the past three years must have maintained a minimum 2.5 GPA on a 4.0 scale.
THE AWARDS
Due to the generous contributions of NAG’s dues-paying members, we have increased the number of winners to five and have a healthy scholarship fund to ensure the college-age children of NAG member companies will receive financial assistance to pursue their goals. The program utilizes standard Scholarship America recipient selection procedures, including past academic performance and future potential, leadership, participation in school and community activities, work experience and an outside appraisal.
This year, five awards of $1,000 will be granted. Awards are not renewable, though students may reapply to the program each year they meet eligibility requirements. Applications must be postmarked by June 17, 2016.
I hope you’re able to take advantage of this program by becoming a member of NAG.
For more information on both the scholarship and the association, please visit www.nagconvenience.com, and please be sure to mark your calendar for the 2016 NAG Conference Savannah, Ga., Sept. 11-14. This year’s conference will feature speakers from a host of leading convenience store chains including QuikTrip, Kum & Go, E-Z Mart, QuickChek, Thorntons, Maverik, Douglass Distributing and so many more. It is the one convenience store industry conference you cannot afford to miss.
Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly at (201) 837-2177 or via email at [email protected].
