The Community Foundation of Frederick County recently gave out more than $500,000 in scholarships to area students. "We are growing, and we have more and more people who have been very generous, and made estate provisions to support scholarship programs, as well, as we have more and more donors who are making current gifts, giving us cash, stocks and bonds to start scholarship funds. We are very very grateful," said Betsy Day, foundation President.

More than 260 local students were presented with scholarships, last week, making it a record breaking year, Day added. "This year we had more than 1000 applications in our universal pool. That's really quite an accomplishment." Another $11,000 in music scholarships will be finalized later this month.

This year, students from each Frederick County Public High School and St. John's Catholic Prep are receiving scholarships. In addition, a scholarship has been presented to a home-schooled student, and for the first time, a student who has earned his General Educational Development (GED) certificate. Finally, scholarships were presented to students already enrolled in college, universities, and technical training programs.