Purpose:  The Arc of Person County, Inc., since 1973 a local chapter of The Arc of the United States, is committed to advocacy, education and opportunity for all individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This scholarship fund is established to further promote and encourage Person County high school students with these disabilities to pursue post-secondary education, to learn beyond high school and to realize their goals. High school students with development disabilities, attention deficiency disorder, autism or other special needs are encouraged to apply.

Award:  Assuming qualified applicants, one, or more awards, will be given. Each award is non-renewable, available for one year only (possible exception noted below). Up to a total of $1250 from this fund may be awarded each year.

The amount of each award will be determined by the PCEF Scholarship Committee, based on several factors including the number of applicants, applicant family financial need and predicted cost of education being sought.   

Criteria:  This scholarship is established to encourage a graduate of Person County to pursue furthering his/her post-secondary education at a trade school, community college, private college, or public university.  This student should exhibit:

1.    U.S. citizenship, with proof of disability from appropriate source.
2.    Resident of Person County, NC for 12 months prior to scholarship application
3.    Graduation from any Person County public or private high school, qualified home school authorized by NC Division of Non-Public Education or NC Free Residential high school  

Considerations:
1.    Financial need
2.   Recommendations from school counselor, advisor, or teacher

Procedures:  The PCEF Executive Director will make the application accessible to all graduating seniors with the assistance of the schools’ Guidance Department.  In accordance with the established Foundation guidelines, all candidates must submit a completed PCEF Scholarship Application Form with a resume, his/her transcript, and two (2) letters of recommendation. 

Awarding of the scholarship: 
At the school’s Senior awards program a PCEF representative along with donors, or his/her designee, if desired, will present the award to the recipient.  An annual press release featuring the award winner will be in the local newspaper.

Agreements between Parties
A.   Agreement shall be in effect beginning the 2022-2023 school year.  
B.   Amount of Scholarship:  Varies, with a maximum of $1250 awarded in any given year.  

C. In the event that the above criteria are too restrictive (because no student acceptable to PCEF Scholarship Committee meets the criteria), donors have requested that high school students who have actively volunteered on a regular basis to support the mission of Arc in assisting other students with developmental disabilities be considered. This may include, but not limited to, volunteering in a special classroom, working with an individual student on a regular basis (from 1-4 years), planning to pursue a career in teaching students with these disabilities, among many ways to serve. Additionally, if no current students with disabilities meet the criteria, and if no volunteers who may be considered are available, donors reserve the right to award previous award winners, with financial need who may still be pursuing education.    

ARC of Person County Scholars

Recipients

2023 - Kye Harris
​2023 - Athena Dontas