With this in mind, The Michigan Chronicle and Talmer Bank have teamed up to offer leadership scholarships to outstanding Detroit students. Titled S.W.A.G. (Students Wired for Achievement and Greatness), the program aims to recognize the achievements and future potential of underserved Detroit students. The first group of scholarship recipients will be announced in the spring of 2016.
S.W.A.G. scholarships will be awarded based on a number of criteria, but will emphasize community involvement and service instead of solely focusing on academics. Rather, the scholarship requires only a 2.5 GPA, emphasizing the fact that leadership does not stem exclusively from academic accomplishments. As Talmer Bank Chairman Gary Torgow points out, leadership takes many forms and S.W.A.G. has chosen to focus on the issues of integrity and community.
In addition to emphasizing leadership, the scholarships awarded will also focus on economically disadvantaged students. With the Southern Education Foundation reporting that over half of public school students live in poverty, the potential pool is unfortunately, quite large.
Gary Torgow says the aforementioned statistic signals a vital need to do everything possible to assist the young men and women throughout our public education system.
S.W.A.G. is not the first program in Detroit focused on students overcoming hardship. This past spring, Detroit schools marked their first College Signing Day with a visit from Michelle Obama. Obama spoke to the students about the importance of higher education and emphasized that each of the students was capable of pursuing higher education.
The scholarships from the Michigan Chronicle and Talmer Bank will be available to students attending not only college, but also trade schools in the fall of 2016. The inclusion of trade schools in the program is a natural fit for Detroit, a city built on blue-collar jobs and the determination of the working class.
Talmer Bank will provide at least fifteen scholarships for the S.W.A.G. program, totaling $25,000 in scholarship money for Detroit students. This donation is in keeping with the values that built Talmer Bank, as well as with the community efforts of Chairman Gary Torgow who, in addition to leading Talmer Bank, sits on the boards of a number of community and civic organizations, including Blue Cross Blue Shield, the Detroit Crime Commission, and the Downtown Detroit Partnership.
In addition to offering scholarship funding, the S.W.A.G. program aims to create a new educational climate in Detroit, building student confidence, offering support to parents and educators, and emphasizing the relationship between students and their home communities. The hope is that the program will help to keep the potential community leaders in Detroit and prevent flight from the economically struggling city.
Further criteria for S.W.A.G. scholarships will be announced and nominations will begin in early October 2015. The program is open to all graduating seniors in any Detroit school, including private and charter schools, who plan to enroll in college or trade school in 2016. All nominees must be economically disadvantaged and Detroit residents to qualify for the program.
