The Derby Community Foundation awards scholarships to Derby High School graduating seniors (and some eligible juniors) each year. Many of them have gone unnoticed, with few applicants. 

The Executive Director of the DCF, Theresa Hearn, wrote in an email:

“I encourage Derby High School seniors to check out the 14 local scholarships administered by the Derby Community Foundation (see attached). The applications are simple to complete and there is a total of $100,000 available this spring. Applicants should download the applications from the DCF website (www.derbycf.org) before completing in order to be certain to not lose any information and to avoid formatting issues.”

It’s no surprise to students, but college is pricey.

The application process is fairly simple, but there are different requirements for the various scholarships. Be sure to include what is asked for, but don’t add anything not requested.

There are also renewable scholarships — the Decarsky Foundation Scholarship, Steve and Leanne Caret Scholarship, and Polk Family Scholarship, a new scholarship.

Another new scholarship is the Pat Paske Scholarship, given in memory of the science teacher who died this school year. It will be given to a student planning to pursue an education career.

“These scholarship funds have all been established by local individuals or organizations that want to support the academic pursuits of Derby students. Scholarship funds are a great example of the basic mission of the Derby Community Foundation, which is to help people help others,” Hearn wrote.

The application deadlines are all due by the end of March, except for the Braxton Kooser Scholarship due February 24 (which is Braxton’s birthday).

The DCF hosts a scholarship reception in May to recognize scholarship recipients and present checks.

“Anyone with questions about the scholarships or the application process, may contact me,” Hearn wrote.