Pinckneyville Family Offers $50,000 Scholarship Match
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Anyone with an interest in the academic success of Pinckneyville Community High School students has a friend in Irl Engelhardt and his family. The Engelhardt Family Foundation has presented the PCHS Education Foundation with an unprecedented opportunity: $50,000 in matching funds for scholarships and other assistance, but only if the group is able to raise an equivalent amount before December 31, 2011. Engelhardt, a native of Pinckneyville and a 1964 alumnus of PCHS, has been an important contributor to several of the initiatives taking form in the community, including the Illinois Rural Heritage Museum and the Illinois High School Basketball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Half of the Engelhardt Family Foundation's generous offer is designed to provide financial assistance to students who have the academic qualifications and wish to attend - but cannot afford - four-year colleges or universities. The other half is designed to support college and career counseling, as well as special assistance programs at PCHS, and under this portion of the matching grant, community colleges and trade schools are eligible.
A tremendous opportunity to be sure, but the Engelhardt Family Foundation's matching grant will not be available to PCHS students in need unless the PCHS Education Foundation can first find enough donors to provide the $50,000 match basis. If ever there was a time when members of the community, PCHS Alumni, and Panther faithful everywhere will want to get out their checkbooks, this is it.
The matching grant represents a remarkable opportunity for donors to essentially double their investment in the future of hardworking PCHS students who are doing their part by making the grades and preparing for the rigorous academic and professional development challenges that await them beyond high school.
The PCHS Education Foundation has established a committee to head up the fund-raising effort and it includes John Shotton, Andrea Keene, Michelle Breslin and Craig Williams. To learn more about supporting the cause, contact committee chair Craig Williams at 618-357-1233, or donate online at www.i