After a careful review of student essays and letters of recommendation, InVEST® scholarship judges recently awarded 76 students with scholarships, totaling $75,500.
Each year, InVEST provides scholarships to students who participate in the program and plan to pursue insurance-related careers. Money for scholarships comes from insurance career partners, state associations, insurance agencies and individual donations, as well as funds raised during the annual InVEST Silent Auction, which takes place each year during the Big "I" Legislative Conference.
At InVEST's spring 2017 Board of Directors meeting, judges also chose the InVEST Teacher of the Year and Volunteer of the Year for their notable contributions to advancing the nonprofit organization's education programs.
The 2017 Teacher of the Year is John Mayo from the Lake Region Vocational Center in Naples, Maine. The 2017 Volunteer of the Year is Dottie Chalmers-Cutter from the Chalmers Insurance Group in Bridgton, Maine. These recipients worked together to advance the InVEST program in Maine. Chalmers-Cutter now has six former InVEST students working in her insurance agency!
This year, InVEST also distributed two new awards: the Randy Roth Applied Memorial Scholarship, which went to Robert Tromberg and honors Randy Roth, former Applied Systems director of talent acquisition; and the Bob Baxter Honorary Scholarship, which went to Michelle Dajczak and honors Bob Baxter, president & CEO of Dryden Mutual Insurance in Dryden, New York, former InVEST board member and advocate for the program.
InVEST's mission is to improve insurance literacy among students and attract new talent to the insurance industry. Through its flagship school-to-work insurance program, InVEST teams with high-school and college educators to provide a useful insurance curriculum for students.
