June 28, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Educational Credit Management Corporation (ECMC) is proud to recognize 81 high school graduates from the class of 2023 as ECMC Scholars. The students each earned a $6,000 scholarship and represent participating high schools in Connecticut, Oregon and Virginia.
For the past two years, these students participated in a comprehensive mentoring program designed to help build academic and life skills. Unlike a traditional academic scholarship, students were selected to participate based on their potential—not solely on their academic merit. Working in collaboration with school staff and the ECMC Scholars Program team, students spent their junior and senior years of high school actively preparing for postsecondary education.
“The ECMC Scholars class of 2023 is an absolute testament to the grit and determination needed to succeed in spite of losing the last nine weeks of their freshman year, followed by varying degrees of virtual, hybrid and masked in-person class times their sophomore and junior years before fully returning to in-person classes their senior year,” said Jan Smith, ECMC Scholars Program manager. “To complete four very different years in high school is not easy, but they got the job done.”
The scholarship funds can be used for enrollment in a degree or certificate program at an accredited college, university or career and technical education institution. In addition, each class of 2023 scholarship recipient has been given the opportunity to receive personalized near-peer college coaching services provided by Beyond 12. This service provides academic, social and emotional support students need to persist in postsecondary education.
“The ECMC Scholars Program is designed to help students reach their educational goals by providing financial support. Many students will be the first in their family to attend a postsecondary institution,” said Paula Craw, ECMC vice president of student success and outreach. “Now more than ever, it is important to provide students with a holistic approach to helping them get to and through postsecondary education.”
Over the past 18 years, ECMC has awarded more than $20 million in scholarships to more than 3,000 in Virginia, Oregon and Connecticut.