Honoring graduating Frisco ISD seniors who have been awarded local scholarships, the Frisco Education Foundation (FEF) Scholarship Event will take place on Thursday at Comerica Center.

Since the organization was founded in 1999, FEF has awarded over $11.5 million in scholarships for college to graduating seniors.

“We encourage all seniors to apply for an FEF Scholarship because they apply one time and are eligible for multiple scholarships,” Lead Counselor Amanda Zambiasi said. “It’s awesome because it helps students further their education.”

Scholarships awarded vary in amount and are submitted directly to the student’s college, university, or trade school of choice.

“As we graduate high school it’s important that we never stop learning; however, this can often come with a heavy financial burden,” senior Luke Head said. “College can get expensive, so not only is it nice to have a little extra money towards it, it’s also nice to know that there are people in our city looking out for us.”

Students qualify for various scholarships based on academic merit, financial need, community involvement, volunteer efforts and other criteria designated by donors.

Thanks to the donations from outside organizations as well as the dedication of the Foundation, FEF has awarded scholarships to more than 11,000 graduating seniors.

“I think scholarships make public education a lot more accessible,” senior Nitya Anam said. “I know a lot of people are able to go to college because of scholarship money so I think it’s really important to apply if you can.”

Through FEF, seniors, like Head, are able to receive scholarships that could have otherwise gone unclaimed. 

“My application process was unique in regards to the “team dinner” we had while filling it out, but it really made it much more enjoyable,” Head said. “We are offered a scholarship through the baseball booster club, which people often don’t fill out, so we hosted senior guys at our house to have dinner and fill out our applications together.”