Bend AAUW awards student scholarships
Two young women head to college this fall with scholarships from Bend’s AAUW, the American Association of University Women.
AAUW Bend Branch has given scholarships to COCC students since 1969. This year there are two recipients.
Shena Ercanbrack from Bend seeks a degree in Wildlife Science from Oregon State University in Corvallis. Her $3,500 scholarship will assist her in becoming a Wildlife Biologist. With her $2,000 scholarship, Kirsten Rehn from Bend is working towards a degree in Animal Science from Oregon State University in Corvallis. She hopes to continue at OSU College of Veterinary Medicine to achieve her career goal as a veterinarian.
In 1991, the Bend Branch received an endowment from the estate of Helen Weil to establish the Charles and Helen Weil Memorial Scholarship, given to COCC women continuing their education to a baccalaureate degree at four year universities.
The Weils were friends of Faye VanHise, the 1952-54 Bend Branch President, and they applauded AAUW’s mission of advancing equity for women and girls.
The scholarship funds are held by the Oregon Community Foundation and currently stand at $127,000 with a 6.6% growth rate. Forty-nine scholarships have been granted from June 1991- July 2014 by the Weil Fund with the average amount being $3,000. That amounts to almost $150,000 given in scholarships over the past 23 years.
The scholarship fund expects to grow with AAUW’s involvement with Harmony 4 Women who annually produce a barbershop style vocal concert performed by all women at the Tower Theater this year on November 22. AAUW is one of four non-profits who will be participating and all non-profits focus their efforts on supporting women and families. The public is encouraged to attend.
The American Association of University Women (AAUW) empowers women and girls through advocacy, education philanthropy, and research. Our non-partisan, nonprofit organization has more then 165,000 members and supporters across the United States, as well as 1,000 local branches and 800 college and university partners. Since AAUW’s founding in 1881, our members have examined and taken positions on the fundamental issues of the day – educational, social, economic, and political.
Learn more at www.aauw.org.
