With the dust barely settled from this year’s Show, 396 students received more than $7 million from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Wednesday, Mary 22. The Show’s scholarship season kicked off with its Texas-sized awards banquet held in Reliant Center.
“These are some of the most amazing students I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with and we are delighted to have them as members of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo scholarship family,” said R.H. “Steve” Stevens Jr., chairman of the board. “College tuition costs continue to rise, and on behalf of the Show’s more than 28,000 volunteers, we are able to award the highest number of scholarships in our history.”
These 396 graduating high school seniors will attend 40 Texas colleges and universities in the fall using funds from the Show’s Metropolitan, Opportunity, School Art and other scholarship programs, totaling $7,028,000.
The Show awarded 238 Metropolitan and 114 Opportunity scholarships to students from 58 school districts in Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery and Waller counties, based on academic achievements and economic need. To be eligible for one of the 15 School Art scholarships, applicants must have competed at the district level in the Show’s School Art Program in 2012. Twenty-nine scholarships for other achievements also were awarded to students during the banquet.
An additional $1.296 million will be awarded next Wednesday, May 29, at the Area Go Texan Scholarship Banquet, as well as $2.52 million in scholarships to Texas 4-H and FFA students later this summer.
These scholarships make up nearly half of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo’s annual commitment of more than $24.6 million to scholarships, research, endowments, calf scramble participants, junior show exhibitors, School Art participants and other educational programs in 2013.
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is a Section 501(c)(3) charity that benefits youth, supports education, and facilitates better agricultural practices through exhibitions and presentation. Since its beginning in 1932, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo has committed more than $330 million to the youth of Texas. The 2014 Show runs March 4 – 23.
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Editor’s Note: Photos of scholarship recipients will be available for download
via the Show’s online Media Center at www.rodeohouston.com.