Cumberland Farms awards 130 worthy students scholarships to attend college for the ninth year in a row, bringing total giving to over $1 million.
Nine years after Cumberland Farms began its impactful Believe and Achieve Scholarship program, it has now provided more than $1 million in financial assistance to over 1,000 bright, young individuals.
On Thursday, June 25, Cumberland Farms announced that 130 high school seniors from nine states have been awarded the scholarship to help them attend college in the fall and in order to help them achieve their dreams of receiving a college education.
As part of the company’s commitment to nurturing the future of young people, the program provides $1,000 scholarships to 130 eligible graduating high school seniors across its service area. This year Cumberland Farms has awarded $130,000 in Believe and Achieve Scholarships to 22 students in Massachusetts, 34 in Florida, 30 in New York, 17 in New Hampshire, nine in Connecticut, seven in Maine, six in Vermont, three in Rhode Island and two in New Jersey.
This year, Cumberland Farms also began a new tradition – designating one special Believe and Achieve Scholarship winner as the “Haseotes Scholar.” Named for the founders of the company, the Haseotes Scholar Award is presented to the student who best exemplifies Cumberland Farms’ values of hard work, achievement and commitment to community. The inaugural winner of the award is Justine Levesque of Windham, N.H.
“I’m very proud to be a Believe and Achieve Scholarship winner, and thrilled to be the first Haseotes Scholar. Cumberland Farms has definitely helped make my ambition to attend college become a reality,” said Levesque, who will be entering Merrimack College this fall. “Thank you Cumberland Farms for caring about us, our communities, and for making a difference in the lives of young people like me”
Believe and Achieve award recipients from Cumberland Farms’ service area have attend a cross-section of colleges and universities, including Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Purdue, University of Massachusetts, Clemson, Florida State, University of Michigan, Princeton, University of Florida, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York University, University of Miami and more.
“The Believe and Achieve Scholarship Program was founded in 2006 with the goal of helping hard-working and accomplished young adults succeed. After nine years, and helping more than 1,000 students with over $1 million in scholarships, we could not be more proud of the difference we are making,” said Ari Haseotes, CEO of Cumberland Farms. “Giving back to the community is an essential part of our company’s mission, and we look forward to helping additional students next year as we continue this important initiative.”
The 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 2015 who live within 30 miles of any Cumberland Farms store. Scholarships are awarded based on a student’s academic performance and financial need, as well as involvement in extracurricular activities such as community service and athletics. The application process for next year’s scholarship program will open in October, 2015.
Since formalizing its Corporate Giving Program nine 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.
