FORT KENT, Maine – The trustees of the Maine Higher Education Assistance Foundation (MeHEAF) have awarded a scholarship for $1,000 to Vanesa Pelletier of Frenchville.
Pelletier is a senior business management major at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, where she maintains a high grade-point average.
Chris Pinkham, president of the Maine Bankers Association, made the presentation to Pelletier at a luncheon ceremony on Friday, March 15, at UMFK’s Nowland Hall faculty dining room, with members of UMFK’s Professional Studies Division faculty, administrators and her family in attendance.
Participating schools select scholarship recipients who are in their second, third, or fourth year of study and whom are Maine high school graduates majoring in a business-related subject. The schools choose recipients based upon academic standing. The MeHEAF awards all scholarships for second-semester expenses.
Pelletier is a 2015 graduate of Wisdom High School. She works for Northern Maine Medical Center in administration as an administrative secretary.
Organizers formed the Maine Higher Education Assistance Foundation in the 1950s as a guarantee fund for student loans. The founders included a wide range of banks, businesses, community organizations and individuals. In 1990, the MeHEAF trustees, to continue the original intent of the founding members, initiated a scholarship program funded by the return on the original loan guarantee funds. The Maine Bankers Association in Westbrook manages the fund.
MeHEAF has given 31 scholarships to UMFK students to date. UMFK also has a plaque with former student names and year awarded, which the University displays in the Grindle Conference Room in Cyr Hall.
Submitted by the Marketing and Communication Office of the University of Maine at Fort Kent.
