By Nancy Waclawek, Times Staff Writer
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Fifty-eight high school seniors from the Tampa Bay area have been selected as semifinalists for the 2011 Barnes Scholarship offered through the St. Petersburg Times Fund.
A total of 367 students from Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough and Manatee counties applied. A Barnes Scholarship is worth up to $60,000 over four years at an accredited U.S. college or university. Each year, four winners are selected. This year, the St. Petersburg Times Fund will provide nearly $131,000 in financial aid to college students through the Barnes Scholarships.
Established by the St. Petersburg Times Fund in 1999, the scholarships are named after Andrew Barnes, retired chairman and CEO of the St. Petersburg Times. The Barnes Scholarships target college-bound high school seniors who have overcome significant obstacles in their lives while remaining committed to academic achievement and community service.
The semifinalists — 34 girls and 24 boys — now must complete the second portion of the application, providing answers to essay questions as well as family financial information, high school transcripts and test scores, and letters of recommendation. This information will be reviewed in early January, when 10 finalists will be selected. Those finalists will be interviewed in late January. Four winners will be announced in February.
Since 2000, 28 Barnes Scholarship winners have graduated from college. Sixteen are still enrolled, at such schools as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Cornell, Eckerd College, Bowdoin College, Florida State, the University of Florida, Emory University, Scripps College and Northwestern University.
The St. Petersburg Times Fund is the not-for-profit philanthropic arm of the Times. It has provided scholarships for college students since 1953.
For more information about the Barnes Scholarship program or the St. Petersburg Times Fund, contact Nancy Waclawek, director of the fund, at (727) 893-8780 or waclawek@sptimes.com. The fund's website is www.tampabay.com/fund.