About Us
History: Moore Haven High School Scholarship Organization, Inc.
The conversation regarding a single student scholarship originated in 2000 when Mr. Aldrich the superintendent of the Glades County School District and Mrs. Wilson, the school guidance counselor, were made aware that a long standing practice of an annual scholarship award for the graduating Valedictorian was being vacated due to economic issues of a local corporation who traditionally funded the four-year scholarship. Aldrich and Wilson decided to contact local community leaders and businesses to secure funds simply to offset the gap of the unfunded scholarship to help with the class of 2000 Valedictorian’s collegiate expenses. That student received the first $1,000 award garnered through the local community’s generosity. Initially, the thought was to identify some entity to continue providing a financial boost until another entity picked up the Valedictorian scholarship torch. From that modest start, the model of the scholarship foundation began.
Subsequent to the first award, Aldrich enlisted longtime Glades County property appraiser Mr. Larry Luckey and Mrs. Jeanette Peeples to participate in the development of the foundation defining its mission and launching fundraising efforts. With the assistance of attorney Andrew Jackson and the three primary incorporators Aldrich, Luckey, and Peeples, the Articles of Incorporation were drafted, submitted and approved by April of 2001. The cadre’s stated purpose in the Articles of Incorporation was simple in the notion stating that it was established to “accumulate and distribute funds for educational scholarships.” Essentially, this was the step that propelled the foundation’s vision from solely funding the Valedictorian scholarships to offering financial assistance to all graduating seniors planning to further their education and move forward to their career goals.
With the cooperation of Attorney Richard Pringle the formation of the non-profit 501(c) 3 processes continued. In March of 2009, the Moore Haven High School Scholarship Organization, Inc. was granted 501(c) 3 status from the Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service. The founding members of the corporation moved to recruit the Charter Members and officers: President, Wayne Aldrich, Vice President, Larry Luckey, Treasurer, Jeanette Peeples, Secretary, Loralie Bennett, and at large members Joe Flint, Paul Beck, David Chapman, and Dr. John Huysman. At this time the designated name of the corporation was changed from Scholarship “Foundation” to “Organization”. Consequent to the authorization of the corporation to officially function as a non-profit 501(c) 3, the organization approved a directorship of up to fifteen members and at that time expanded the board membership to ten; by inducting Mrs. Ellen Geake, Mr. Don McCardel, and Mr. Carl Perry.
In 2011 as many of the charter or other members were leaving the board, bylaws were amended to afford the organization the ability to recognize members or donors for their efforts. Through many discussions the board desired a sanctioned instrument to officially acknowledge any director or sponsor who had made significant contributions to the corporation. The conclusion of those conversations resulted in establishing the designation of Director Emeritus. Individuals may then, with a super majority vote, be nominated and approved as a Director Emeritus along with the prescribed entitlements as agreed by the board. During the annual banquet and scholarship awards night in 2012, special recognition was noted and the Director Emeritus designation was conferred to Mr. Wayne Aldrich, Mr. Larry Luckey, and Mr. Joe Flint in acknowledgment of each of their notable involvement in advancing the mission and goals of the organization.
Since its inception in 2001, The Moore Haven High School Scholarship Organization has awarded nearly 600 scholarships totaling $783,000 inclusive of the general and or memorial/honorarium scholarships. No matter if students chose universities, state colleges, and vocational or trade schools each student was awarded a minimum of $1,000 upon meeting the required GPA of 2.5 or higher. In 2011the board recognized that considering changes in workforce needs many students were choosing training programs outside of the traditional colleges and universities. Realizing this new dynamic the board considered and approved the addition of $500 scholarships for students with a GPA of 2.0 to 2.49 essentially expanding scholarship opportunities for all graduating seniors.
Additionally, numerous memorial or honorarium scholarships are awarded and those recipients are chosen by the benefactors based on personal criteria they choose. Recipients are selected from the organizations applicant pool for those specific scholarships. From the onset of the foundation, donors were granted a match of up to $250 for memorial or honorarium scholarships. This was practiced to increase the number of potential scholarship opportunities for the graduates. In 2011, the Board of Directors voted to change the match to 30% of the donation up to $6,000 in an effort to increase the donation amounts therefore increasing the opportunities for the students.
A breakdown for current scholarship awards include the Valedictorian scholarship an award of $3,000 per year for four years for a total of $12,000 and the Salutatorian receives $2,000 per year for four years an $8,000 award. All applicants earning a 2.5 GPA or higher receive a one-time $1,000 award and those earning a 2.0 to 2.49 GPA receive a one-time $500 award. Additionally, the memorial and honorarium scholarships with the 30% match are a fluid entity as the memorial and honorarium scholarships are presented with varying values and while some are recurring, others have only been presented for only one or two years.
The 2014 Board of Directors:
President, Dr. John Huysman, Vice President, Lorie Ward, Secretary/Treasurer, Susie Woodward, Scott Bass, Paul Beck, Rogel Brown, Sandra Brown, Gordon Bryant, Bonita Drayton, Ellen Geake, Anthony Hyatt, Michele Thomas, Robert Way
*Note: historical and financial information was gleaned from documents including Articles of Incorporation application and notification of approval, 501(c) 3 application and notification of approval forms from Dept. of Treasury and IRS, 990-EZ tax forms, bylaws, and personal interviews
The conversation regarding a single student scholarship originated in 2000 when Mr. Aldrich the superintendent of the Glades County School District and Mrs. Wilson, the school guidance counselor, were made aware that a long standing practice of an annual scholarship award for the graduating Valedictorian was being vacated due to economic issues of a local corporation who traditionally funded the four-year scholarship. Aldrich and Wilson decided to contact local community leaders and businesses to secure funds simply to offset the gap of the unfunded scholarship to help with the class of 2000 Valedictorian’s collegiate expenses. That student received the first $1,000 award garnered through the local community’s generosity. Initially, the thought was to identify some entity to continue providing a financial boost until another entity picked up the Valedictorian scholarship torch. From that modest start, the model of the scholarship foundation began.
Subsequent to the first award, Aldrich enlisted longtime Glades County property appraiser Mr. Larry Luckey and Mrs. Jeanette Peeples to participate in the development of the foundation defining its mission and launching fundraising efforts. With the assistance of attorney Andrew Jackson and the three primary incorporators Aldrich, Luckey, and Peeples, the Articles of Incorporation were drafted, submitted and approved by April of 2001. The cadre’s stated purpose in the Articles of Incorporation was simple in the notion stating that it was established to “accumulate and distribute funds for educational scholarships.” Essentially, this was the step that propelled the foundation’s vision from solely funding the Valedictorian scholarships to offering financial assistance to all graduating seniors planning to further their education and move forward to their career goals.
With the cooperation of Attorney Richard Pringle the formation of the non-profit 501(c) 3 processes continued. In March of 2009, the Moore Haven High School Scholarship Organization, Inc. was granted 501(c) 3 status from the Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service. The founding members of the corporation moved to recruit the Charter Members and officers: President, Wayne Aldrich, Vice President, Larry Luckey, Treasurer, Jeanette Peeples, Secretary, Loralie Bennett, and at large members Joe Flint, Paul Beck, David Chapman, and Dr. John Huysman. At this time the designated name of the corporation was changed from Scholarship “Foundation” to “Organization”. Consequent to the authorization of the corporation to officially function as a non-profit 501(c) 3, the organization approved a directorship of up to fifteen members and at that time expanded the board membership to ten; by inducting Mrs. Ellen Geake, Mr. Don McCardel, and Mr. Carl Perry.
In 2011 as many of the charter or other members were leaving the board, bylaws were amended to afford the organization the ability to recognize members or donors for their efforts. Through many discussions the board desired a sanctioned instrument to officially acknowledge any director or sponsor who had made significant contributions to the corporation. The conclusion of those conversations resulted in establishing the designation of Director Emeritus. Individuals may then, with a super majority vote, be nominated and approved as a Director Emeritus along with the prescribed entitlements as agreed by the board. During the annual banquet and scholarship awards night in 2012, special recognition was noted and the Director Emeritus designation was conferred to Mr. Wayne Aldrich, Mr. Larry Luckey, and Mr. Joe Flint in acknowledgment of each of their notable involvement in advancing the mission and goals of the organization.
Since its inception in 2001, The Moore Haven High School Scholarship Organization has awarded nearly 600 scholarships totaling $783,000 inclusive of the general and or memorial/honorarium scholarships. No matter if students chose universities, state colleges, and vocational or trade schools each student was awarded a minimum of $1,000 upon meeting the required GPA of 2.5 or higher. In 2011the board recognized that considering changes in workforce needs many students were choosing training programs outside of the traditional colleges and universities. Realizing this new dynamic the board considered and approved the addition of $500 scholarships for students with a GPA of 2.0 to 2.49 essentially expanding scholarship opportunities for all graduating seniors.
Additionally, numerous memorial or honorarium scholarships are awarded and those recipients are chosen by the benefactors based on personal criteria they choose. Recipients are selected from the organizations applicant pool for those specific scholarships. From the onset of the foundation, donors were granted a match of up to $250 for memorial or honorarium scholarships. This was practiced to increase the number of potential scholarship opportunities for the graduates. In 2011, the Board of Directors voted to change the match to 30% of the donation up to $6,000 in an effort to increase the donation amounts therefore increasing the opportunities for the students.
A breakdown for current scholarship awards include the Valedictorian scholarship an award of $3,000 per year for four years for a total of $12,000 and the Salutatorian receives $2,000 per year for four years an $8,000 award. All applicants earning a 2.5 GPA or higher receive a one-time $1,000 award and those earning a 2.0 to 2.49 GPA receive a one-time $500 award. Additionally, the memorial and honorarium scholarships with the 30% match are a fluid entity as the memorial and honorarium scholarships are presented with varying values and while some are recurring, others have only been presented for only one or two years.
The 2014 Board of Directors:
President, Dr. John Huysman, Vice President, Lorie Ward, Secretary/Treasurer, Susie Woodward, Scott Bass, Paul Beck, Rogel Brown, Sandra Brown, Gordon Bryant, Bonita Drayton, Ellen Geake, Anthony Hyatt, Michele Thomas, Robert Way
*Note: historical and financial information was gleaned from documents including Articles of Incorporation application and notification of approval, 501(c) 3 application and notification of approval forms from Dept. of Treasury and IRS, 990-EZ tax forms, bylaws, and personal interviews