MANSFIELD, OH – The OSU Alumni Club of Richland County has awarded Molyet Scholarships to attend The Ohio State University at Mansfield to the following students:
- Savannah Keetle, Mansfield Senior High School Full Tuition $7140
- Kaylee Schrock, Madison High School Half Tuition $3570
- Morgan Gongwer, Lexington High School Half Tuition $3570
In addition, two students who will be attending Ohio State’s Columbus campus won ASP (Alumni Scholarship Program) awards from the Richland County Alumni Club:
- Tyler Gorbett, Ontario High School, $1000
- Chad Kentosh, Mansfield Senior High School, $1000
The club noted that this year’s applicant pool was quite strong. The 24 applicants came from nine different Richland County high schools. Their median ACT composite was 26 and half of them ranked in the top 10 percent of their high school class.
The selection of Alumni Club scholarship winners is a four-stage process. First the Club’s scholarship committee contacts all guidance counselors in Richland County high schools and asks them to encourage their best prospects to apply. The committee chair (a non-voting member of the committee) next prepares summaries of all applications, hiding each applicant’s name, high school, and, if possible, gender. The alumni club scholarship committee then meets and, based on these anonymous summaries, selects the best of the applicants for interviews. Finally, the scholarship committee interviews the selected finalists, makes its selections, and clears its recommendations with the OSU Office of Student Financial Aid before announcing the results.
Selection is based solely on merit. Academic achievement, as indicated by high school rank, ACT scores and strength of the high school curriculum, play the largest role in the selection. Leadership qualities, extracurricular activities, employment record, community service, academic plans, and guidance counselor recommendations are also taken into consideration.
Nearly all of this year’s applicants had taken strong college-prep curricula including many honors courses, Advanced Placement courses, and Post Secondary Educational Opportunity courses taken for college credit at area colleges and universities. Many were officers in student organizations and/or captains of athletic teams. The alumni club stated that all had well thought out academic plans and reasons for attending The Ohio State University.
The OSU Alumni Club of Richland County has as its principal purpose the provision of OSU scholarships to worthy students. It has raised an endowment worth $360,000, the proceeds of which fund its annual scholarship awards. The “Beat Michigan Buckeye Bash” is the major annual event sponsored by the club to increase this endowment.
Concerts by the OSU Marching Band (“The Best Damn Band in the Land”) also have raised substantial amounts of scholarship money.
The OSU Alumni Club of Richland County’s work in providing scholarships and the other services it renders to The Ohio State University and to the community have earned it recognition by the OSU Alumni Association. For 25 consecutive years the Richland County Alumni Club was honored with an “Outstanding Club Award” as one of the best of Ohio State’s 229 alumni clubs. For the first 17 years of the existence of the “Gold Star Award” (given to a very few of the University’ best alumni clubs) the Richland Club won a Gold Star in each of those years, a record unmatched by any other club in the world.
The Molyet Scholarships to the Ohio State Mansfield campus are named for Jeff Molyet, a past president of the Club and the person who was most instrumental in establishing these scholarships and raising the endowment funds that support them.