On December 6, 2013, six hundred and seventy three High School Seniors in New Jersey, dotted their “I”s and crossed their “T”s and turned in their scholarship applications for the Elks Most Valuable Student Scholarship.  Those applications, which included counselor’s reports, scholastic achievements, civic and after school activities, were rigorously judged at the local Lodge, District and then State level. 

When the pencils were put down, twenty four outstanding applicants were sent on to the Elk’s Grand Lodge for additional paperwork and judging as part of almost $3 Million in scholarship funds.  Jeff Patterson, NJ State Scholarship Chair said, “We were overjoyed to receive such a tremendous response to our program. “  Last year the Girls’ National Recipient, Grace Young, was sponsored by Hoboken Lodge #74.  Patterson said that she is currently attending Harvard and doing well.  When asked about this year’s applicants, he replied, “We won’t know until mid-April, if we have another national winner, but we know we have 25 students that will receive a minimum of $4000 towards their college expenses”

That is not the end of the story, the New Jersey Elks Charity awards ninety-six additional scholarships totaling, $67,200 to the next highest achievers.  Past National Officer, Mr. Richard Pachucki, who is also a Past State President of the NJ Elks and Scholarship Advisor said, “The applicants were highly competitive with less then 15 percentage points amongst the award winners.  I am pleased to announce Taylor Muller of Pascack Hills High School was one of the award recipients of a one time $700 award to Pennsylvania State University.  I know Taylor will be making significant contributions to our society upon graduation.”

The Elks National Foundation Most Valuable Student Scholarship program is open to all high school seniors.  The contest will start again on September 1, 2014.   Past NJ Elks State President William Oakley, also an advisor to the fifteen members of the scholarship committee urged, “all juniors to make a note in their calendars or Iphones to download the application at www.elks.org/enf/scholars next year.”

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