Overview

Each year, subject to budget approval, the Greater Framingham Running Club (GFRC) presents two College Scholarships to local high school seniors.  The scholarship award for 2024 will be $500 for each recipient.

Criteria

The scholarships will be presented to local high school runners who plan to attend either a two or four-year accredited college or university and who also intend to run cross-country, track or recreationally while in college.  We’ll look to ensure that the winning applicant exemplifies dedication, leadership, running talent, commitment and academic achievement.  That is, the award will not necessarily go to the runners in the greater Framingham area with the most success in running, but the track or cross-country team members who have always been committed and consistently work hard to persevere, combined with academic achievement.

Applicants need to submit a brief statement describing what running means to them.  This statement will accompany their coach’s supporting statement.

Eligibility

The eligible high schools are any public high school or schools within a town that has at least five GFRC members with a family membership counting as one.  The membership list as of October 31 for the previous year is the eligibility determinant.   All seniors attending these high schools are eligible for the scholarship. For 2024, this means that the eligible high schools are Ashland, Framingham, Holliston, Keefe Tech, Natick, and the Learning Center for the Deaf.  In addition, all students who are members of the Greater Framingham Running Club as of October 31 of the previous year are eligible, regardless of their high school.

Application

Students will need to engage their track or cross-country coaches to provide a short (one or two paragraphs) statement as to why the athlete deserves the award, based on the criteria noted above. 

Schools will be notified between January 8 and January 31 with a return deadline of March 31.

Decision

The GFRC Secretary will receive all applications, and remove all names from the applications, then package and distribute the applications, identified by number only, to the GFRC Scholarship Committee.  This is done to ensure a fair process, and avoid the appearance of any impropriety. Membership on the GFRC College Scholarship Committee will be open to any member of the GFRC in good standing who volunteers to be on the Committee.  The GFRC College Scholarship Committee should have approximately 5-7 volunteers by the January monthly meeting. The Committee will announce its decision of the scholarships at the April or May monthly meeting and the decision of the Scholarship Committee is final.  The Committee will then need to work with the recipient’s school to determine the proper protocol for student and public notification.

Presentation

Two GFRC members will present the awards:

The GFRC President or Vice President (or one of their designees from the Scholarship Committee) and a scholarship committee representative agreed upon by the scholarship committee.

The two presenters will travel to the appropriate high school awards night (typically in May) to make the presentation (subject to current health safety protocols).