Pella Corporation Awards 41 College Scholarships Across U.S. Through Rolscreen Foundation

Forty-one outstanding students were awarded scholarships through the Pella Rolscreen Foundation 2019 Sons and Daughters Scholarship Program. The recipients are graduating high school seniors of Pella Corporation team members representing company sites located in Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Texas. The students and their parents were honored at a dinner held at company headquarters in Pella on May 7.

This year’s scholarship recipients were selected from a talented pool of students that represented 47 high schools in 13 states. External judges selected the recipients through an application process that included academics, school activities, community volunteerism, and essay responses. Four-year recipients received an $8,000 scholarship and two-year recipients received a $1,500 scholarship — meet the recipients.

“Pella cares deeply about our team members and the communities in which we all live and work and this is just one way we can give back,” commented Pella Rolscreen Foundation Manager Michele Waber. “Education was incredibly important to our founder, Pete Kuyper, and it remains an area of focus today.”

In fact, in the early years when the company was smaller, Pete and his wife Lucille would provide a $100 bill to every team member with a son or daughter graduating from high school. They looked at this as an important investment—investing in the younger generations meant a promising future. The official Sons and Daughters Scholarship Program as it is structured today began in 1979, and to date, 636 scholarships totaling over three million dollars have been given through the program.

The scholarship program is part of the foundation’s charitable giving that includes community and education grants, a generous Matching Gifts Program and a Volunteer Recognition Program that rewards team members and their spouses for volunteerism by providing a grant to an organization of their choice.