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Home > News and Events > News > News Detail
7/1/2020
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As I explained in my introductory video remarks at the virtual ACI Concrete Convention this spring, one of my primary goals as ACI President is to elevate the visibility of the ACI Foundation and its programs. The ACI Foundation consists of three primary missions carried out by its three councils, namely the Scholarship Council, the Concrete Research Council, and the Strategic Development Council. A fourth initiative is development, referring to the actions taken to accumulate the funds necessary to support the initiatives undertaken by the three councils. At this time, I want to discuss the work of the Scholarship Council and highlight its recent Scholarship and Fellowship awards. Each year, the Scholarship Council solicits applications, conducts interviews, and awards scholarships and fellowships. A scholarship award consists of a $5000 tuition stipend for the student. Each fellowship awardee will receive a $10,000 to $15,000 educational stipend for tuition, residence, books, and materials; paid travel expenses and fees to attend two ACI Conventions; and assignment to an industry mentor. All students receive appropriate certificates, recognition, and publicity. This year, the Scholarship Council awarded eight scholarships and 12 fellowships. One of the rewarding experiences of being the ACI President is seeing the letters of gratitude from the talented students who are scholarship or fellowship awardees. I recently received two such letters that I wish to highlight as they are particularity meaningful to me. The first is from Peyton Bailey, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the recipient of the 2020 Richard D. Stehly Memorial Fellowship. He wrote in part: The award is a great opportunity for me to become more involved in ACI and hopefully get more student involvement in our local student chapter. The second letter is from Benjamin Steger, University of Missouri – Columbia, the recipient of the 2020 Richard D. Stehly Memorial Scholarship. He wrote in part: This scholarship is a shout of good news among all of this, especially as my family and I began looking at ways to pay for my last school year among the economic turmoil of this crisis. The shutdown has not been kind to my loved ones, but thanks to your generosity, my career pursuits will no longer be a burden on my family. Once more, thank you for your support of the ACI Foundation and its Fellowship and Scholarship Program. I cannot express enough how much the scholarship is helping me and likely helping my peers under the current circumstances. I hope one day to be in a position to return the favor to the Foundation. Why did I elect to recognize these two recipients? Because I want to emphasize a few key points. The first is obvious: we have impacted two young promising students in a positive way that may lead to their current and future involvement in ACI. The second point is to remember the namesake of these awards. Richard (Dick) Stehly was a close friend of mine who died midway through his term as ACI President in September 2010. Upon his untimely death, he left a considerable sum to the Foundation in his will. He directed that the amount should be used to fund the Richard D. Stehly Memorial Fellowship. Others, seeing his generosity, contributed funds to create the Friends of Richard D. Stehly Memorial Scholarship, which continues to be funded by contributions and events such as the Stehly hockey game that occurs at our Convention. Through his generous gift, Dick Stehly continues to positively influence promising young students like Peyton and Benjamin 10 years after his passing. This should be no surprise to those who knew him as he consistently mentored younger ACI members. The third critical point I wish to emphasize is this: the funds for the Stehly Scholarship and Fellowship are not infinite and will be exhausted after the 2020-2021 academic year is complete. I hope you will join me in supporting the continuation of these positive awards by contributing to the ACI Foundation. I also hope that highlighting these two students who received financial awards for college might motivate you to consider including the ACI Foundation in your own estate planning and giving. Attracting the best and the brightest to ACI will have lasting positive benefits for us all. ACI Foundation staff are available to discuss various options for one-time, annual, or planned giving. Visit www.acifoundation.org for more information or to donate. For now, please stay safe and thank you for the work you do to keep ACI "always advancing." Jeffrey W. Coleman American Concrete Institute
As I explained in my introductory video remarks at the virtual ACI Concrete Convention this spring, one of my primary goals as ACI President is to elevate the visibility of the ACI Foundation and its programs. The ACI Foundation consists of three primary missions carried out by its three councils, namely the Scholarship Council, the Concrete Research Council, and the Strategic Development Council. A fourth initiative is development, referring to the actions taken to accumulate the funds necessary to support the initiatives undertaken by the three councils.
At this time, I want to discuss the work of the Scholarship Council and highlight its recent Scholarship and Fellowship awards.
Each year, the Scholarship Council solicits applications, conducts interviews, and awards scholarships and fellowships. A scholarship award consists of a $5000 tuition stipend for the student. Each fellowship awardee will receive a $10,000 to $15,000 educational stipend for tuition, residence, books, and materials; paid travel expenses and fees to attend two ACI Conventions; and assignment to an industry mentor. All students receive appropriate certificates, recognition, and publicity. This year, the Scholarship Council awarded eight scholarships and 12 fellowships.
One of the rewarding experiences of being the ACI President is seeing the letters of gratitude from the talented students who are scholarship or fellowship awardees. I recently received two such letters that I wish to highlight as they are particularity meaningful to me.
The first is from Peyton Bailey, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, the recipient of the 2020 Richard D. Stehly Memorial Fellowship. He wrote in part:
The award is a great opportunity for me to become more involved in ACI and hopefully get more student involvement in our local student chapter.
The second letter is from Benjamin Steger, University of Missouri – Columbia, the recipient of the 2020 Richard D. Stehly Memorial Scholarship. He wrote in part:
This scholarship is a shout of good news among all of this, especially as my family and I began looking at ways to pay for my last school year among the economic turmoil of this crisis. The shutdown has not been kind to my loved ones, but thanks to your generosity, my career pursuits will no longer be a burden on my family.
Once more, thank you for your support of the ACI Foundation and its Fellowship and Scholarship Program. I cannot express enough how much the scholarship is helping me and likely helping my peers under the current circumstances. I hope one day to be in a position to return the favor to the Foundation.
Why did I elect to recognize these two recipients? Because I want to emphasize a few key points. The first is obvious: we have impacted two young promising students in a positive way that may lead to their current and future involvement in ACI.
The second point is to remember the namesake of these awards. Richard (Dick) Stehly was a close friend of mine who died midway through his term as ACI President in September 2010. Upon his untimely death, he left a considerable sum to the Foundation in his will. He directed that the amount should be used to fund the Richard D. Stehly Memorial Fellowship.
Others, seeing his generosity, contributed funds to create the Friends of Richard D. Stehly Memorial Scholarship, which continues to be funded by contributions and events such as the Stehly hockey game that occurs at our Convention. Through his generous gift, Dick Stehly continues to positively influence promising young students like Peyton and Benjamin 10 years after his passing. This should be no surprise to those who knew him as he consistently mentored younger ACI members.
The third critical point I wish to emphasize is this: the funds for the Stehly Scholarship and Fellowship are not infinite and will be exhausted after the 2020-2021 academic year is complete. I hope you will join me in supporting the continuation of these positive awards by contributing to the ACI Foundation. I also hope that highlighting these two students who received financial awards for college might motivate you to consider including the ACI Foundation in your own estate planning and giving. Attracting the best and the brightest to ACI will have lasting positive benefits for us all.
ACI Foundation staff are available to discuss various options for one-time, annual, or planned giving. Visit www.acifoundation.org for more information or to donate.
For now, please stay safe and thank you for the work you do to keep ACI "always advancing."
Jeffrey W. Coleman
American Concrete Institute
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