On May 9, 2024, the St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce awarded $1,000 scholarships to three St. Tammany high school seniors: Madelyn Smith from Slidell High School, Halle Anne Haaga from Fontainebleau High School and Sadie Ochoa from Northshore High School. The scholarships were funded with proceeds from the Chamber’s 2024 Swinging for Scholarships Golf Tournament.
St. Tammany Parish School Superintendent Frank Jabbia joined St. Tammany Chamber CEO Lacey Osborne and St. Tammany Chamber Membership Director and scholarship program coordinator Meredith Wright in making the presentations.
“Our Chamber is committed to the growth of business and keeping local talent in our community,” said Wright, adding “It’s why we started our annual scholarship golf tournament several years ago and are thankful for everyone who sponsored or participated in the tournament. Our selection committee was very impressed with the many competitive applications received, and we are proud to award scholarships to these deserving students.”
Applications were open to St. Tammany residents with a minimum GPA of 3.0 and planning to attend a Louisiana college or university. Applicants also submitted a 250-word essay on what influenced the decision to pursue a college degree and two letters of recommendation from a non-family member.
This fall, all three scholarship recipients are attending LSU in Baton Rouge.
“We are pleased that Superintendent Jabbia and several of our top-level Chamber investors were able to join us for the scholarship presentations,” said Osborne. “Keeping good talent local is important to our business community and their support of quality education in our parish is greatly appreciated.”
Attending the presentation were representatives from American Bank, AVALA, CGB Enterprises, Inc./Zen-NOH Grain, Hancock Whitney, Lakeview Hospital, Ochsner Health, REV Business, St. Tammany Health System and Slidell Memorial Hospital.