Florida Association of Realtors Presents $5,000 Scholarships to College-bound Students
ORLANDO, FL – October 06, 2008 – (RealEstateRama) — As three recent Florida high school graduates return to college, their classes may be a little easier thanks to the $5,000 state scholarship awards each received from the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR). The students’ winning essays were written on the topic “How Does a Realtor Professional Benefit the Community?”
The state winners are Erika Barrs of Lake City, a 2008 graduate of Columbia High School; Natalia Smirnova of Tallahassee, a 2008 graduate of Leon High School; and Ben Thomas of Geneva, a 2008 graduate of Oviedo High School.
These students each had previously received a district-level scholarship of $5,000 for their winning essays in FAR’s 2007-2008 Scholarship/Essay Contest for High School Seniors, resulting in a total of $10,000 in scholarship money to help with their future college expenses. There were 13 district winners. FAR also recognized each student whose essay won second place in their respective districts with a $1,500 scholarship, and each student winning third place in their district with a $500 scholarship – for a total of $106,000 in scholarship funding given to Florida students this year. Barrs won the District 1 scholarship award; Smirnova received the District 8 scholarship award; and Thomas won the District 12 scholarship award.
2008 FAR President Chuck Bonfiglio announced the scholarship winners and presented them with their $5,000 grand prize awards during FAR’s 92nd annual Convention & Trade Expo, held at the Buena Vista Palace Hotel & Spa in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. About 700 members of FAR’s Board of Directors honored the students for their achievements.
The students’ families were also present to see them receive their scholarship checks and hear them read their winning essays to the appreciative Realtor audience. The winners and their families thanked Florida Realtors for establishing the scholarship/essay contest and helping to make their college dreams a reality.
Here’s what happened when Erika and her mother, Teresa Barrs, found out that she had won one of FAR’s state scholarships: “I was speechless,” Erika said. “I couldn’t wait to call my mom and let her know. My mom is still crying happy tears!”
FAR’s three state scholarship winners all have big plans for a future in the medical and healthcare fields. Thomas is attending the University of Central Florida in Orlando, where he plans to major in biotechnology. He eventually wants to treat patients using radiation therapy. Barrs is enrolled at Lake City Community College and she plans to provide physical therapy to pediatric patients. Smirnova is taking classes at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she intends to seek a dual major in chemistry and contemporary European Studies. A former resident of France for eight years, she wants to take several foreign languages as well as fulfill the requirements for a pre-med degree.
In his essay, Ben Thomas wrote how Realtors put their knowledge to work for people, guiding them through the complicated, confusing and often intimidating process of buying or selling a home. “One of the more well-known qualities of a Realtor is the benefit the agent provides for the buyer, determining buying power and appropriate financing options to best meet the purchaser’s needs,” Thomas said. “When at a closing table, having the expertise and experience of a Realtor will make it the beginning of a new dream, not a nightmare of surprises and inexperience.”
Natalia Smirnova described how a real estate professional named Natalie Rubik helped her parents find the perfect home for her family, once they moved to America and settled in Tallahassee. She noted in her essay that owning a house is a luxury in her home country of Russia, and generations of Russians “were conditioned to think that all they deserved was a one-bedroom apartment in a cement block in a gloomy, polluted neighborhood comprised of identical cement blocks.” But their Realtor, Natalie Rubik, showed them that things could be different, she said, and her family isn’t the only one: Rubik has helped over 50 Russian families find homes in Tallahassee and adapt to living in the community. “They (Realtors) benefit the community in the most essential way that can be – by providing people with a place to live, regardless of their background,” Smirnova wrote. “They enrich people in a community by finding them the perfect home, and enrich the community by introducing new people to it.”
In her entry, Erika Barrs related how a Realtor helped her grandparents start their lives over in Lake City after living through the devastation caused when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in August 2005: “They had nothing but the clothes on their backs and no home to go to,” she wrote. “Soon after arriving in Lake City, they met with a local Realtor, explained their situation and their needs, as well as their budget.” The Realtor never gave up and helped her grandparents find a home they loved and could afford in a pleasant neighborhood, Barrs said. And then, she helped them find financial funding, helped them move and introduced them to people in the community. “They (Realtors) are goodwill ambassadors to people in their community,” she wrote. “They are the welcoming committee for their county and sometimes the surrounding ones as well. They help the newcomers feel at home in a new environment. They help them start a new life.”
Business executives, educators, media representatives, Realtors and community leaders from across Florida volunteered their time and expertise to serve as judges for both the district- and state-level essay competition. During the eighth year for FAR’s scholarship program, more than 400 high school seniors from across the state sent in entries for the essay contest.
The Florida Association of Realtors, the voice for real estate in Florida, provides programs, services, continuing education, research and legislative representation to its 125,000 members in 67 boards/associations. FAR’s Media Center Web site is available at http://media.floridarealtors.org
