There are many types of scholarships available for high school seniors who need financial assistance to attend college. A Land Specialist for Whitetail Properties Real Estate offers a different kind of scholarship — one based instead on a student’s strength of character.
Rewarding Character, Not Just Finances
“When I graduated high school, I didn’t apply for a scholarship because I was told those were only available for financial need,” says Andrew Heppe, who covers southwest Montana for the real estate brokerage.
Heppe's Scholarship Vision
“My idea was to reward kids based on their character, including work ethic, community involvement, integrity and their pursuit of higher education.”
Heppe’s Outstanding Character Scholarship awards $500 per recipient, which he pays out of his own pocket, for students to attend any form of higher education, including universities, vocational training and military careers.
Since introducing the scholarship about six years ago, Heppe’s Outstanding Character Scholarship has awarded $6,000 to area high school seniors. In 2024, two winners will be selected, one from a high school in Deer Lodge County and one from Silver Bow County.
When applying, students are asked to submit an essay answering the question: “What does the phrase, ‘Keeping Your Word,’ mean to you, and how does it relate to maintaining a strong work ethic? Please give an example of a situation you were faced with that involved making a difficult decision in order to keep your word, and how you handled the situation.”
Applicants must also submit a letter of recommendation from a teacher, employer, or mentor and list any awards, honors or extracurricular activities they feel might be pertinent.
Explaining the Scholarship's Purpose
Heppe includes a letter to students with the application, explaining how the scholarship relates to his own career. It states:
“At Whitetail Properties Real Estate, our mission is to provide unparalleled service and professionalism. We will work as hard as we can to help buyers and sellers achieve their dreams without compromising our high-quality work ethic or integrity.
I have worked in several different careers, including agricultural aviation and wildland firefighting, and have surmised that there is no substitution for hard work and there is never a situation that is worth sacrificing our integrity for. In business, the easy way to do things is seldom the right way.
We are seeking a candidate who is sometimes willing to do things the hard way, in order to make sure things are always done the right way.”
Connecting with Scholarship Recipients
He occasionally hears back from scholarship recipients. “I’ve kept up with several of them and received some nice thank you notes,” he says.
Heppe's Role at Whitetail Properties Real Estate
Heppe is one of the company’s more than 350 Land Specialists across the country who are experts in rural real estate in their territories, including farm, ranch, recreational and timber land. Heppe is the Whitetail Properties Land Specialist serving Southwest Montana.
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