Hoover Rotary Club awards $12,000 in scholarships to high school seniors

The Hoover Rotary Club has awarded $12,000 in scholarships to seniors from Hoover High School and Spain Park High School to help them offset their college education.

The Hoover High and Spain Park High recipients were given a combined $6,000 for each school during an awards luncheon at Hoover Country Club.

This total brings the Hoover Rotary Club contributions to Hoover city education to over $250,000 over the past three decades, and the club received a proclamation honoring its support of education during the May 4 Hoover City Council meeting. Read about that here:

http://hooversun.com/news/city-council-honors-hoover-rotary-club-for-passing504/

Larry Sparks, a member of the club for 36 years and chair of its scholarship committee, said scholarship recipients fill out applications and then the college counselors at each school narrow the number down, based on the club's established criteria. The 10 to 12 student finalists interviewed by the Hoover Rotary scholarship committee to select the winners.

"The students are judged on community involvement, academic success character and their financial need,” Sparks said.

He said the Hoover Rotary puts “a lot of emphasis on financial need” when making its selections. Although Hoover is considered an affluent community, Sparks said many high school graduates need financial help such as scholarships to offset the rising costs of college.  

Sparks said supporting education is a big priority in the Hoover Rotary Club. In April, the club donated $2,500 each to both Hoover High and Spain Park High bands to help both schools buy new band uniforms. The organization also contributes to other worthy city causes.

Since its formation, the Hoover Rotary Club has exceeded $1 million in total donations to worthy organizations such as Children's of Alabama, Big Oak Ranch, Ronald McDonald's House, Toys for Tots, the Salvation Army and Polio Plus.

The Hoover Rotary also gives dictionaries to every third-grader each year in both public and private schools in city and provides tutoring at Rocky Ridge Elementary. The club provides scholarships for students to attend Rotary Youth Leadership Conference in Huntsville each year, and sponsors an Interact Club at Hoover High (an Interact Club will be coming to Spain Park High this fall).

“Giving back is a big part of what we are all about at the Hoover Rotary,”Sparks said.