Recent Mancos High School graduate Remy Dillon has been awarded a $1,000 Stewart Watson Wheeler Scholarship from the Western Colorado Community Foundation, among other scholarships, to support her as she starts college.
This fall, Dillon will start her pursuit of a degree in engineering as a member of the John F. Reed Honors Program at Fort Lewis College.
Along with the scholarship from WCCF, Dillon was also awarded the EEA Scholarship; Aiken Scholarship; P.E.O. Star Scholarship; Dean Hanson Four Corners Board of Realtors Scholarship; Rotary Club of Durango High Noon Scholarship; Thomas & Jennie Hiebler Scholarship; Larry Larsen Memorial Scholarship; Colorado Scholars, Presidential Scholarship; and an Ora V. & Clifford G. McCathron Engineering Scholarship.
According to a news release from WCCF, the foundation manages a group of 38 scholarships across the western part of the state. Just this year, 110 students were awarded $823,000 from the foundation. The Waston Wheeler Scholarship awarded to Dillon has awarded more than 100 students since 2008 with more than $100,000 being distributed.
“We partner with donors to create charitable funds that support the causes they care about today and for generations to come,” Renee Smith, spokesperson for WCCF, told The Journal. “For those passionate about education, we help establish scholarship funds that create opportunities for students pursuing college, trade school, career and technical training and other educational pathways. Scholarships can be tailored to reflect a donor's interests, supporting students from a particular community, attending a specific school, or pursuing a certain field of study …”
Dillon was selected by the Delta County School Counselors Committee. Smith said that applicants must graduate from the Delta County or Mancos school districts with at least a 3.3 GPA and demonstrate a desire to improve their knowledge, learn a trade or profession, provide for themselves and/or their families, and plan to enroll in a public institution to qualify.
The scholarship fund was established by George Wheeler, a longtime Colorado West philanthropist and businessman who died March 2 at the age of 90, Smith said. Wheeler was born in Cortez in 1935 and grew up in Mancos, also living in Farmington and other area communities. He helped start WCCF.
bduran@the-journal.com
