Rotary Club St. Thomas Interact Scholarships

 

It all started in 2000, when a gift was made by the Kirwan Family Trust to the Rotary Club of St. Thomas in the amount of $3,000.  The simple request of the trust was that the funds be earmarked for scholarship distribution.  In 2004, this gift was used to form the Richard Kirwan Scholarship Fund in memory of Rotarian Rich Kirwan, who was a member of the scholarship committee during his years of service to the Club.  
 
Since then, the Rotary Club of St. Thomas and the Rotary Club of St. Thomas Foundation have raised monies to fund as many as four (4) annual college scholarships for graduating high school seniors a year. The Rotary Club of St. Thomas established an Interact program at Charlotte Amalie High School.  Students in that program are eligible to apply for the scholarships.

 

 

Gordon L. Coffelt was a member of the Rotary Club of St. Thomas for over 20 years.  He was a contractor by trade and a well-known and respected commercial property developer on St. Thomas.  After his passing in 2013, his wife Soraya Diase Coffelt donated $20,000 to establish a scholarship fund in his honor for graduating high school students who were entering into the career and technical fields.  The earnings from this fund are applied annually for scholarships.

 

 

Thanks so much for your assistance, Soraya Diase Coffelt