This year 2003 will be the third year that Reno Lodge has participated in the Scholarship Program with additional funds received from the Grand Lodge. In 2001, the Lodge provided one $1,000.00 scholarship to Stephanie Luongo from Galena High School. In 2002, the Lodge provided two $1,000.00 scholarships with one to K. Chartkunchand from Wooster High School and one to Justin Fike from Galena High School. For this year, the Lodge has received over $1,000.00 from donations from the membership when they would send in their dues and something extra for the Scholarship Program. Add to this a donation from Grand Lodge and we should again be able to provide two $1,000.00 scholarships.

After the awards were made during the high schools awards night, the students and their family were invited to a Stated Communication dinner and then tell the brothers about themselves and their plans for school and the future. The scholarships went to some students who had worked very hard during their time in high school. The students were graded in several different areas. The areas that were evaluated were Grade Point Average, SAT & ACT scores, hours worked during the school year, their extra-curricular activities and community service. Last year their need for financial assistance was also evaluated. Junior Warden Michael Wilhelm is the master numbers cruncher and provided a formula to put the above rated areas into a final numerical score.

The Lodge wants to have as many people in the community as possible, know that Masonry is alive and well. Any high school that is not covered by another Lodge gets covered by Reno Lodge and there are two more high schools this year. In the past we have sent two applications each to about eight high schools. That would give us about 12 to 14 applications to evaluate. After Brother Wilhelm would process the top six, the Master and others would make the final selections.

It is very heartwarming to see how hard these students are working. What you see and hear that the students are doing is not what you see on TV. The Washoe County School District is doing a great job for any student who wants to learn.