A new scholarship available for students in Bay and Walton Counties

BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - Heading off to college is a dream for many students but the cost of tuition can be a barrier. One local organization is looking to help.

“The St. Joe Community Foundation Board has announced a scholarship called No Ordinary Joe,” April Wilkes, Executive Director for the St. Joe Community Foundation, said. “We’re really excited about it.”

All high schools in Bay and Walton Counties are asked to nominate three students. But, not just ordinary students.

“Good character, good leadership skills, really contribute to the community,” Wilkes said. “Those are the students we’re looking for.”

Each of those three students will be given a $500 scholarship and then be invited to apply for the No Ordinary Joe award. Then, one winner will be selected from each school for an additional scholarship.

“The winner from each school will be named their No Ordinary Joe. They’ll get a $1,500 scholarship on top of the $500.”

The money doesn’t stop stacking up there.

“We’ll take each one of the winners from each school in each county and we’ll have one No Ordinary Joe winner per county,” Wilkes said. “That winner will win a $10,000 scholarship.”

The selected students may not be the ones with straight A’s, but the St. Joe Community Foundation Board says they may shine in other ways.

“They may not be the kid that has the 4.0, we’re setting this bar at 3.0,” Wilkes said. “We really want to get those kids that don’t always get all those scholarships. They may not stand out quite as brightly, but we want to make them stand out with this.”

Nominations are due on January 15th and then applications from the nominees are due on February 14th.

For all details and qualifications for the scholarship, you can visit the website here.

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