By Ryan Mayers

Austin Public Schools Communications Coordinator

The Hormel Foundation, Austin Public Schools, Pacelli Catholic Schools, and Riverland Community College are pleased to announce the Hormel Foundation Austin Assurance Scholarship.  The scholarship will cover tuition and some fees for two years for all qualifying Austin Public and Pacelli Catholic Schools graduates at any Riverland Community College campus.

In order to qualify for the scholarship, students must live in the Austin Public School district, graduate from Austin Public or Pacelli Catholic Schools, complete a set number of volunteer hours, and meet a set of qualifying criteria.

“It’s our intent to help take away cost as a barrier for students in our community to attend Riverland,” says Jeff Ettinger, chair of The Hormel Foundation.  “This will really allow our students to further their education, which benefits us all.”

The scholarship is the fruition of more than four years’ worth of work and is designed to make college accessible to a wide range of graduates in the Austin community.  “By enhancing the opportunity to get a postsecondary education, we believe that we’re helping to instill the belief that we can better ourselves with an education,” says The Hormel Foundation secretary Steve Rizzi, “and that will only help our community to grow.”

According to Dr. Adenuga Atewologun, RIverland Community College president, the scholarship “is really going to be a game changer for [the Austin] community and our students.  Postsecondary education is a very big piece of a stable community.”

The scholarship is funded through a generous grant by The Hormel Foundation, whose mission is to “provide charitable, scientific, and educational support for the benefit of the Austin, MN community.”

More information can be found at http://austinassurance.org.