About 700 people filled a room Sunday at Charleston Place to celebrate 260 new winners of a multi-million dollar college scholarship program seeking to go statewide.
Meeting Street Scholarship Fund, the brainchild of Charleston philanthropists Ben and Kelly Navarro, this year awarded 260 scholarships worth $10.2 million over four years to incoming freshmen at South Carolina colleges. Each scholarship is worth up to $10,000 a year for four years.
“This is one of the most immediate life-changing ways to make a difference,” said the fund’s executive director, Josh Bell, on Sunday. Later, he added, “A little help can go a long way.”
The organization celebrated achievements of the students from 11 counties Sunday at the hotel, which is owned by one of Navarro’s companies. Also on the minds of attendees — the 279 high-achieving students who won $11.2 million in scholarships since the fund began in 2021.
One 2022 scholarship winner, University of South Carolina student Logan Miller of Dillon, told the crowd Sunday that “finding out about the Meeting Street Scholarship was a huge weight taken off my shoulders. I’m so thankful for this.”
The fund helps good students who may face financial hurdles in attending college.
“Many students and families face an annual funding gap of $10,000 or more after [other] scholarships, grants and federal loans are taken into account,” according to information from the fund. “As a result many hard-working students choose to never attend college or assume tremendous personal debt in order to attend.”
The mother of two scholarship winners, Josephine Oria of Mount Pleasant, added on Sunday, “Having the Meeting Street Scholarship behind them allows them to have the breathing room behind them in order to do other exceptional things. This definitely is impactful. You just don’t understand how much it means.”
Mission 46 seeks to expand fund’s reach
Now the fund aspires to go statewide with its Mission 46 initiative to impact more students who may not otherwise have the financial capacity to attend college in South Carolina.
Counties currently participating in the scholarship program are Barnwell, Charleston, Clarendon, Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Jasper, Lee, Marion, Marlboro and Williamsburg. To expand, the fund is making a pitch to get more donors from counties currently not participating in the program.
“Mission 46 seeks to build a network of visionary donors who will bring this life-changing scholarship to all 46 counties in South Carolina,” the fund said in a press packet. “Every dollar donated directly funds student scholarships.”
According to the organization, the scholarship program expects to award more than $85 million of scholarships every year to deserving students when all 46 counties are participating.
- Learn more at: MeetingStreetScholarshipFund.org.
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