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Your generous contributions and consistent vote of confidence for The Summit FM (91.3FM) fuel our passion for giving back to our community. The Jim Chenot Scholarship for Akron Public Schools seniors continues to challenge young minds and honor our former colleague and dear friend.
We are excited to share the new and enhanced focus of the scholarship program. In addition, thank all of you who made a contribution in his honor.
The Summit FM is a musically adventurous, community-focused, listener-supported public radio station at 91.3 FM in Akron/Canton, 90.7 FM in Youngstown, 90.1 FM in Athens and worldwide at
thesummit.fm.
In 2018, The Summit FM created a scholarship fund exclusively for Akron Public Schools seniors preparing to attend college in the fall. The “Jim Chenot Attitude for Gratitude Scholarship” fund is held and distributed by Akron Community Foundation.
The “Jim Chenot Attitude for Gratitude Scholarship” raises awareness for those who have overcome obstacles that may have prevented them from fully realizing their healthy potential.
It puts the spotlight on those who have moved from a place of darkness into a place of illumination. And it calls to mind our innate need to focus on those things we can appreciate and be grateful for.
Scholarship applicants are asked to reflect on and acknowledge someone they know or love who has experienced a physical or mental-health disruption or challenge. Perhaps that ‘someone’ is the applicant!
Have you, or someone you know, moved from a place of despair and dread to a new area of hope and re-birth? Have you transitioned from a lifestyle of apathy and uncertainty to grateful recognition and viable possibilities?
The application process invites students to share their stories of well-being and gratitude through essays, poetry, songs, podcasts or video.
Each student submits a creative work depicting a personal experience with mental health challenges; overcoming physical limitations; substance-use disorder; motivation impediments; or psychological, spiritual, academic or wellness barricades.
More importantly, each student details why they are grateful for a journey that moved them from a place of ‘bad’ into a home of ‘better.’ Scholarships will be applied to tuition, books or related fees at the institutes of higher education they will attend this Fall.
As the late, great Jim Chenot would tell you, life is challenging. We don’t always succeed. However, we must surge forward to put ourselves in a better position to realize our dreams and goals. Well-being is the catalyst that can move us from a dark space into one where the focus is in range and accomplishment can be within our grasp.
Whether it was his immense love for The Beatles, Cleveland sports teams or local music, Jim would also say that consistently acknowledging those things we already have is just as important as trying to achieve the new goals that may be within our reach.
Send application materials - including your essay, poetry, song, podcast or video - along with a letter of recommendation by May 1 to Matt Anthony at
[email protected].
If chosen, scholarship recipients will be notified by June 1.
All tax-deductible contributions to the “Jim Chenot Attitude for Gratitude Scholarship” are made through Akron Community Foundation.
ABOUT JIM CHENOT
Going out of his way to notice a bright spot in the seemingly mundane. Re-purposing his love of the past to fuel a search for the new and undiscovered. Finding a reason to see the upside and, at times, the humor in an otherwise tense and dramatic situation.
Our departed WAPS, The Summit (91.3FM) colleague and friend, Jim Chenot, lived these tenets daily, exhibiting, in his singular fashion, a penchant for acknowledging the ‘positive’ around him and its contribution toward well-being.
