For more information contact:
Barbara Klingman - Administrator, Scholarships and College Services

COCA-COLA SUPPORTS 35 FIRST GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENTS

October 21, 2004

The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges (OFIC) announces that one student in each of OFIC’s 35 independent colleges and universities has received a $5,000 Coca-Cola First Generation Scholarship for the current 2004-2005 academic year. Since the establishment of this program in Ohio in 2001, The Coca-Cola Foundation has provided $740,000 to fund scholarships through OFIC. Scholarship selection is based on academic performance, school and community service activities, and financial need. Scholars are the first in their families to attend college.

Among the college seniors who have received this honor for the past four years is Annette Thornburg, who is majoring in English Creative Writing and Religion at Denison University and says, “Without any hesitation I can say Coca-Cola’s investment in me and my education has been an invaluable blessing.”

Kevin Stinchcomb plans to graduate from Malone College, take the nursing state boards, and start his practice at Aultman Hospital in Canton. Aaron Davis, a pre-med/biology major at Wittenberg University, plans to attend graduate school next year to become an optometrist. This spring Davis was recognized by Wittenberg as the African American junior with the highest grade point average.

Karlee Kleinhenz has been paying her own way through college and is using her scholarship to pursue a degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Dayton. Nicholas Chuha is working on his honors thesis at Kenyon College this term. He hopes to teach English on the college level after graduate school.

“Without the Coca-Cola Foundation scholarship I never would have been able to achieve my dreams, “ says Kelli Welker, a Walsh University senior who plans to do graduate study in forensic psychology in the future. Wilmington College’s Kristin Jacobs hopes to become a large animal veterinarian, and Defiance College’s Emily Ohlrich, who studies early childhood education, will soon be ready to teach.

Since its inception in 1994, The Coca-Cola First Generation Scholarship Program has expanded. It is now offered at 382 colleges and universities across 31 US states and on 52 campuses in China. Ingrid Saunders Jones, chairperson of The Coca-Cola Foundation and a senior vice president of The Coca-Cola Company says, “This is a way we can help deserving young men and women open the door to a wider future, and bring new hope to an entire family.”

Jeffrey S. Wolf, President of OFIC, remarked, “I remember how exciting it was to announce and award the first Coca Cola scholarships in the fall of 2001. It is most gratifying to see those scholars now approaching graduation and entering society prepared with the knowledge and skills developed during four years of liberal arts education. They are living proof that Coca Cola’s commitment is truly making a difference in the lives of Ohio’s students.”

The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges was founded in 1950 to conduct annual solicitations of companies and foundations to benefit private colleges in Ohio. OFIC today has 35 member institutions and more than 94,000 students. OFIC raises both unrestricted and restricted gifts including scholarships and endowments.

OFIC’s 35 member colleges and universities: Antioch College, Ashland University, Baldwin-Wallace College, Bluffton University, Capital University, Cedarville University, University of Dayton, Defiance College, Denison University, The University of Findlay, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Franklin University, Heidelberg College, Hiram College, John Carroll University, Kenyon College, Lake Erie College, Lourdes College, Malone College, Marietta College, Mount Union College, Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Muskingum College, Notre Dame College, Oberlin College, Ohio Dominican University, Ohio Northern University, Ohio Wesleyan University, Otterbein College, Urbana University, Ursuline College, Walsh University, Wilmington College, Wittenberg University and The College of Wooster.