S.L. service scholarship targets first-generation college students

Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker made good on another campaign promise Tuesday, announcing the creation of the Service in the City scholarship program.

The scholarship, first mentioned in June 2007 as part of Becker's "blueprint" for education, is designed to help Salt Lake City students become the first in their families to continue their education after high school.

The city is partnering with the education, business and nonprofit communities to provide $2,500-a-year scholarships to economically disadvantaged students willing to perform community service.

"There is no more important investment we make in our community than in our children," Becker said during a press conference at the Salt Lake City-County Building. "Education is the greatest single societal benefit that we give to the children in our community, so that every child has an equal opportunity to succeed."

The two-year scholarships will be available to graduates from the four Salt Lake City School District high schools — East, Highland, Horizonte and West — beginning in fall 2010.

Because the program is designed to assist Salt Lake City students and reinvest in the community, the scholarships will require that students continue their education at the University of Utah or colleges and applied-technology schools in the city.

Scholarship recipients will be selected from a pool of about 200 students who attend the Youth Leadership Development Summit, hosted by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Center for Community of Caring, part of the University of Utah's College of Education and a scholarship partner.

The ninth-, 10th- and 11th-graders who participate in the summer summit will serve as a "pipeline" for the service scholarship, said Paula Smith, executive director for Community of Caring. The first summit will be held next year.

"The leadership summit will focus on developing their leadership skills, as well as performing service learning," Smith said. "Through experiences with these hands-on service projects, students will gain a sense of accomplishment that comes along with doing meaningful service, as well as understanding their rich potential as leaders."

About six or seven scholarships are expected to be offered in 2010, with hopes that the number will increase each year.

Project partners, which also include the Salt Lake City School District and the Salt Lake Chamber, are in the process of raising about $200,000 to establish the scholarship program.

"I can't think of anything that is more important than the idea of service in our community, the opportunity to realize that service pays off for the city, service pays off for the individual and service pays off for furthering education," said Lane Beattie, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber. "It gives back to those who give to the city."

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