Virginia Smith Trust expands grants, scholarships for high school seniors in Merced

High school seniors in Merced will be eligible for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of scholarships and grants this spring, thanks to the local Virginia Smith Trust.

This year marks the first year the trust will award $500 grants to 200 high school seniors to help offset the cost of college tuition and housing as these students head off to college later this year, according to a news release.

Another first for the trust: the awarding of $500,000 in scholarships to students, although it wasn’t immediately clear how many students would get that scholarship money.

The Virginia Smith Trust, which normally awards scholarships to college students, expanded the eligibility requirements this year to include local high school seniors. The trust was established in the will of local woman Virginia Smith and since its inception in 1976, has awarded nearly $6 million in scholarships.

“This is a great opportunity for high school seniors and truly fulfills Virginia’s dream of helping students achieve success through higher education,” said Steve Tietjen, Merced County superintendent of schools and executive director of the Virginia Smith Trust.

“The vision is to expand the scholarship opportunity to all Merced County high school students.”

To be eligible for both the grant and scholarship money through the trust, students have to be a senior at a high school in Merced and have attended a school in Merced for the last three years.

They must also be on track to graduate with their A-G requirements satisfied and have a minimum GPA of 3.0. The grants will be awarded in February, and applications for the competitive scholarship are due on March 2.

The minimum scholarship amount is $1,500, according to a press release sent by the Merced County Office of Education.

A new release sent out on Friday morning credited the financial success of the trust to the endowment being well-invested, and that a 7% annual return was generated from the production of 550 acres of almonds on the Virginia Smith Trust land near UC Merced.

For more information, write to virginiasmith@mcoe.org.