James A. & Renee R. McDermott Scholarship Fund

Polk County Community Foundation

Eligible students will reside within Polk County, North Carolina or within other close-by areas the Foundation serve. The scholarship will be used to fund costs of undergraduate study in a liberal arts program (i.e., the humanities, mathematics, social sciences, physical or biological sciences, etc.) leading to a bachelor's degree at an accredited four year college or university. Beyond this, criteria for selection will be threefold:

1. The recipient should have substantial scholastic aptitude. This could be evidenced by academic performance, scholastic aptitude tests, academic awards, teacher evaluations and the like. Consideration could and should be given o applicants whose scholastic performance has significantly improved during the course of their secondary education even though their overall grade point average may be adversely affected by poorer performance in earlier periods.

2. The recipient should also have demonstrate civic or social achievement potential in some substantial way. This might take the form of substantial and meaningful participation in student government, athletics or other extracurricular activities. Or it could consist of addressing and overcoming a significant physical, economic or social challenge or hardship.

3. Need, broadly defined, will be a selection criterion.

The award should carry with it renewal requirements that the recipient maintain a 3.0 grade point average and have a liberal arts major to continue to receive scholarship assistance in the second and ensuing years of his or her four year undergraduate program.