Dollars for Scholars helps 169 area students

| May 12, 2017
Mary Stenner was one of the five original recipients of the Coshocton Chapter of Dollars for Scholars financial awards and she and her husband Jerry have been giving back for many years. Pictured are Mary and Jerry Stenner with Emily Kobel, who is the recipient of their 2017 award. The program was held in the Roy McKinley auditorium at Coshocton High School on Thursday evening, May 11.

Mary Stenner was one of the five original recipients of the Coshocton Chapter of Dollars for Scholars financial awards and she and her husband Jerry have been giving back for many years. Pictured are Mary and Jerry Stenner with Emily Kobel, who is the recipient of their 2017 award. The program was held in the Roy McKinley auditorium at Coshocton High School on Thursday evening, May 11.

COSHOCTON – 2017 marks the 50th anniversary for the Coshocton Chapter of Dollars for Scholars. One of the program’s original five recipients was on the stage to present a financial award to a college bound student from Coshocton County. Mary Stenner, who received an award that helped her pay for a quarter of college at The Ohio State University, said, “There were five of us and I was one of a set of triplets from a very poor family and we had to pay for all of our college ourselves. I received $450 and that paid for my first quarter at The Ohio State University. I was very grateful to get it. That was 1967.”

Mary said that to see the program survive 50 years and still be helping students, “It’s great that it is still here and that it impacts this many students now. We’ve given back for many years now, I’m not sure how many but we enjoy doing that. They gave me the chance to go to college and not have a lot of debt.”

Jerry said, “I’m very proud to be a part of this. I’ve been a board member for roughly 40 years and we’ve (Mary and Jerry) been giving a scholarship each year for 35 or 40 years, I don’t know how many exactly.”

Jerome Stenner was one of the original members of the community that got Dollars for Scholars going in Coshocton County and Jerry said, “I’m proud to follow in his footsteps. It makes us feel great when we give our award and see the smile on the recipient’s face. We actually get to pick who we give our award to each year and that’s always been a nice touch.”

Sherry Kirkpatrick, who is the current President of the local chapter said, “This evening we are awarding 169 scholarships totaling $82,700. It would not be possible without all of the sponsors that do continue to send their checks every single year. Jim Eckelberry, who is a board member and the campaign chairman, diligently sends out letters to all of the sponsors and we are always trying to recruit new sponsors. The board tries to be active and keep ourselves visible. Everyone knows me as the Auditor (City of Coshocton) and I am always about our organization being compliant. It’s a real privilege to be here tonight and announce these student’s names.”

Kirkpatrick said, “I would like to especially thank The Coshocton Foundation and The Montgomery Foundation for their huge support of the program.”

Scholarships are awarded to seniors from Coshocton City Schools, River View Local Schools, Ridgewood Local Schools, the Coshocton County Career Center, The Coshocton Christian School and home schooled students that are headed to college.

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I live with my beautiful wife Nancy on a small farm just outside Coshocton. We have been married for thirty two years and have two grown children, Jessica and Jacob. Jessica is married to Aaron Mencer and they are employed with Coshocton City Schools. Jacob is a sophomore at Kent State University. I graduated from River View High School, have a Bachelor’s Degree from North Carolina Wesleyan University and am actively involved with the Roscoe United Methodist Church, serve on several local committees and am a member of the Coshocton Kiwanis Club, having served as Past-President. I love reading, especially military thrillers, the Civil War and history in general. My goal is to write a novel. My wife and I are also AdvoCare distributors and encourage anyone wanting to lose weight, gain energy and better health to explore AdvoCare at our website; www.fortunes4advocare.com. I love the media field, innovative technology and have worked in newspapers for over 30 years – in fact, my first job was delivering newspapers. The Beacon is a dream made possible by the support of this community and a great team. I hope to continue serving Coshocton County for many years.

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