Member wins double scholarship from Credit Union Foundation

Member wins double scholarship from Credit Union Foundation
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A young member of the Credit Union has won the highest score on the MD|DC CU Foundation double scholarships awarded to applicants from credit union members in Maryland and DC. 

We are enormously proud and happy to announce that one of our young members decided to apply to both the Credit Union Foundation for the Maryland and DC Credit Union Association (CUF MDDC), and she consequently won in both categories! 

As you may remember from our earlier blog, the Foundation provides a total of twenty scholarships per year to college students who are members of a Maryland or D.C.-based credit union, or member of a credit union affiliated with the MD|DC Credit Union Association. Ten scholarships are provided to essay entry winners, and ten to video entry winners. The winners are decided by an independent jury of Credit Union Association personnel, Foundation volunteers, and credit union volunteers. 

The numbers this year 

There was a total of 149 submissions, divided as follows: 

  • 80 videos 
  • 69 essays.  

The jury had 68 judges reviewing entries. 

The process 

Different judges reviewed a number of entries and scored each one of them on various aspects: how well the entry responded to this year’s topic, how well the presentation was, its appeal to the audience/reader and whether it was well written (in the case of the essay) or was easy to understand (the video). 

This year’s topic was 

“Credit unions play a significant role in promoting financial wellness among their members. How do you believe credit unions contribute to the financial health and stability of individuals and communities? Discuss specific benefits and provide examples or personal experiences to illustrate their impact.”   

Our winner

The OAS FCU member who won a scholarship for the essay and video categories is Natalia Polo. And not only did she win, but how! The Credit Union Foundation informed us that both her entries received the highest number of points in both categories. She slays!

A young child holds a cup in her hand. In front of her a plate of snacks, some paper and markers.
Natalia, age 11 at the time, participating in a children’s financial education session at OAS FCU.

Natalia Polo is the child of a long-standing member of OAS FCU who participates as a volunteer in our Green Committee. Natalia also happens to be a long-standing member of the Credit Union herself. She joined OAS FCU as a child, and we have been lucky enough to find some photos of her participating back then in one of the Yuri’s Club Children’s Financial Education sessions. 

Our most heartfelt congratulations go out to you, Natalia, for an extraordinarily well done job! We also want to thank you for your ongoing support of the Credit Union, and we wish you the best in your ongoing studies.

Here you can read the essay that won Natalia the scholarship (hers is the first entry, “Planting Seeds of Financial Wellness”, and below you may watch the video that earned her the second scholarship. 

Special thank you

Thank you yo all that participated in the competition, we hope that you will apply again next year! 

From left to right stand five people -a man, two women, a another man, and a woman, all smiling. The two women in the center hold large checks for two thousand dollars each.
From left to right: Jose Pedro Ravel, Director of Member Services; Natalia Polo, Mariana Herrera (Natalia’s mother and volunteer at OAS FCU), Carlos Calderon CEO, and Katherina Diaz-Viana, Chair of the Supervisory Committee.

The team at OAS FCU would like to thank the Credit Union Foundation MD|DC for making these scholarships available to our young members. Especially, we would like to thank Leigh Philibosian, Director of the Credit Union Foundation, for all the help and support she has provided to us along the way this year. We look forward to working with her in the future!


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