The Oaklawn Foundation handed out 127 scholarships totaling $387,000 on Thursday during its annual scholarship awards ceremony, which was held for the first time in Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort's new Event Center.
Kerry Lockwood-Owen, chairwoman of the Oaklawn Foundation Scholarship Committee, said there were 279 applicants this year. There were 124 awards of $3,000 scholarships, along with three $5,000 scholarship awards. This year also marks the first year the ceremony has been held in person in the past few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We are so excited," she said. "Today is so special because my committee and our scholarship team get to put faces to the names of those that we have chosen. So it's like welcoming new family. Today is especially important because this is the first year that we've been able to have a presentation at home here at Oaklawn."
Oaklawn President Louis Cella and Senior Vice President of Oaklawn Jockey Club Eric Jackson "have done nothing but be supportive, enabling mentors without ever asking for a thing from us except for us to help as many people as we can. So it's just a great gift to honor."
She said the Oaklawn Foundation scholarships are built on "nobody feeling confined."
"But rather to step out in the universe that's theirs," she said. "And that's what we want it to be. And Oaklawn continues to be gracious in their giving to us and the support that they give is phenomenal. If I'm not mistaken, we have given, since 2007, over $3 million in scholarships. The only requirement we have is you have to be a Garland County resident and you have to be either with a GED or a high school diploma. That's it. We ask for nothing more."
Video not playing? Click here https://www.youtube.com/embed/fAntj1RYEhQ
The scholarships provide opportunities for those students seeking vocational or technical training, two- and four-year degrees, and master's and doctoral degrees. She said when the program was set up in 2007 that she wanted it to be a program for "everybody."
"Not just high school seniors or college students, but maybe people that are my age that want to go back and do something to enable them to have the very best perspective on themselves," she said.
"And I was so fortunate to have such a great team to work with to establish those criteria. But we will be forever grateful to what Oaklawn has and always done. We are home in this beautiful event center making this presentation today. I look out and I'm almost moved to tears because I have read every one of your stories, as has our committee, and they touch our hearts so deeply and each one of you are so significant to the contributions that we will make to Garland County and we want you to enjoy every moment of that."
Lockwood-Owen said the three $5,000 scholarships are awarded to those students who show exceptional promise in certain areas. Former editor of The Sentinel-Record, Melinda Gassaway, presented the Melinda Gassaway Journalism Award to Benjamin Alejandro Romero of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts, while Jean Lacefield presented the Bob Freeman Leadership Award to Alix Frazier of Hot Springs World Class High School, and Scott Dews, president of the Oaklawn Foundation Board of Directors, presented the Darrell and Shirley Meyer Scholarship to Dylan Wasson.
Four-time scholarship winner Karl Lowry, the keynote speaker, discussed the value of education and the role it has played in his and his family's life.
Oaklawn General Manager Wayne Smith said it was great being able to host the event at Oaklawn for the first time.
"We're very honored to have you receive your scholarship here at Oaklawn," he said. "Many of you, as Kerry was saying, know that the Cella family over the last 15 years, through the donations from what we've received through the casino goes to the Oaklawn Foundation, we've contributed almost $15 million in the last 15 years. I believe that this year's class gets us to almost 1,300 scholarships that we've been able to give to those of you that are in desperate need for that funding. So again we want to thank you for coming to Oaklawn. We're glad to have you here finally in this facility. It has been a long 15 years and it's been a wonderful and rewarding time for all of us. So congratulations to all of you and we look forward to seeing what you do with the funds and where you go in the future."