Scholarship Program

AND THE 2002 WINNERS ARE . . .

It was another great year for IBC’s Scholarship Program as more than 60 banks participated, 52 applications were received and $4,000 will be awarded in scholarship money. Half of the money is given to bank customer applicants and the remaining is given to bank employee children. A HUGE thank you goes to the independent selection committee as each application was examined, scored and considered. They had an extremely difficult task of narrowing the winners to six.

Qualifications to receive a scholarship were: GPA of 3.0 or greater; be accepted at a Colorado college or university as a full-time student; have an account or their parents have an account at an IBC member bank for at least six months; and complete an essay question and application. An independent committee comprised of IBC associate members selected the scholarship winners. The committee was: David Lewien, Global Village Systems, Englewood; Dan Baker, Total Bank Technology Solutions, Denver; Judy Straayer, Central States of Omaha, Centennial; and Mary Marchun, Capitol Solutions, Denver. Applicants were judged on their essay question response to: “What new product or service other than Internet banking should your bank offer in the future and why?” and on their academic performance, extra curricular activities, and references.

The winners for the bank employee category are: Sarah Miller, sponsored by Centennial Bank of the West in Greeley will receive a $1,000 scholarship; Heather Pitner, sponsored by FirstBank of Northern Colorado in Fort Collins and David Bryant sponsored by FirstBank of Lakewood in Lakewood will each receive a $500 scholarship. In the bank customer category the winners are: Brian Lengel sponsored by Sunwest Bank in Idalia will receive a $1,000 scholarship; Rachel Roberts sponsored by FirstBank of Lakewood in Lakewood, and Kevin Miles sponsored by Colorado East Bank and Trust in LaJunta will each receive a $500 scholarship.

The scholarship application and essays will be available for review at the IBC’s 29th Annual Convention at the Copper Mountain Resort in Copper Mountain, September 12 – 14, 2002. The overwhelming response to the essay questions was to educate high school students about financial responsibilities, i.e. balancing checkbooks, paying back credit card debt, how to apply for a loan, how to establish credit, how to read a credit report etc.