The CFO awards $1.7 million in scholarships each year for college, graduate and technical education.
Donors determine the size and eligibility criteria for the scholarships they create, and the CFO manages the process on their behalf. The CFO will award $1.7 million in scholarships to about 950 students for the 2025–26 academic year.
After World War II ended, Jennie Barritt was teaching students of all ages in a tiny, one-room schoolhouse in the Cedar County hamlet of Wright. Over the next 34 years, she and her husband, Ellis, a WWII veteran and rural mail carrier, also tended a 160-acre farm. They lived within their means and eventually built assets that Jennie decided to give back to El Dorado Springs students through the Ellis and Jennie Barritt Educational Scholarship Fund.
“I wanted for them to get to go to college, and if I could help them, I wanted to,” she says. Though she died in 2020, her dedication to the students of El Dorado Springs will continue on for generations.
Beth Hersh, Director of Scholarships, works with students and school counselors from the application process through making awards, tracking success and sharing information with donors.
Each scholarship has a selection committee that chooses the recipient(s) each year. If you are interested in volunteering on a scholarship selection committee, please contact Beth.
