AFSA Awards $20,000 to High School Seniors
Scholarship Program Educates Public About Fire Sprinklers
DALLAS - The American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA) congratulates 10 high school seniors nationwide who have won a scholarship through the association's online scholarship program, afsascholarship.org.
"Awarding scholarships to talented students is one of our organization's key contributions to the future of the fire protection industry and beyond," said AFSA Director of Communications & Social Media Nicole Duvall, who serves as staff liaison to the Public Education & Awareness Committee, which oversees the annual scholarship program. "Our board and staff are dedicated to keeping this very worthwhile program going strong, even in these challenging times. It is our mission and our legacy to educate the next generation about the life-saving benefits of fire sprinklers and to support education in everything we do. Since we began the program 24 years ago, we have awarded over half a million dollars in scholarships."
These national winners were randomly selected from nearly 50,000 students who entered to receive a one-time $2,000 AFSA scholarship payable to their respective college, university or trade school. This online scholarship contest awards ten $2,000 prizes annually. The ten national winners for 2019-2020 are:
- Emmanuel Bryant, Greenville, NC
- Taylor Cook, Clovis, CA
- Nayeli Flores, Porterville, CA
- Lily Jewett, Cumming, GA
- Liam McFarland, Olympia, WA
- Sage Orbell, Riverton, WY
- Bena Patel, Irvine, CA
- Alexandria Self, Lacombe, LA
- Gabriela Shamblin, Lakeland, FL
- Karina Villegas, Paint Rock, TX
To be eligible, applicants must be a current high school senior planning to attend an accredited U.S. college, university or trade school in the coming fall. Applicants are required to read a passage about fire sprinklers-which describes their history, how they operate to save lives and property, and the types of careers that are available in the industry-and take an eight-question reading comprehension test. For each question answered correctly, the student receives one entry into a drawing for one of ten $2,000 scholarships. A total of eight entries per applicant into the drawing are possible.
Since its creation in 1996, the AFSA Scholarship Contest has sought to promote the scholarship outside of the fire sprinkler industry in the hope of reaching students who may otherwise never have recognized the importance of automatic fire protection.
Now entering its 25th year, the AFSA scholarship continues to grow, educating over 4.3 million users through this contest. AFSA scholarships are open to U.S. citizens or legal residents and are not based on financial need. For details or to apply, visit afsascholarship.org/high-school-contest. The 2020-21 contest will open September 1, 2020.
About AFSA
Established in 1981, the American Fire Sprinkler Association is an international association representing fire sprinkler contractors. AFSA is dedicated to the educational and professional advancement of the automatic fire sprinkler industry. Visit firesprinkler.org.
