MEREDA Scholarship Winners Named
Nicole Belanger and Sophie Martel, second-year students in the Business Administration and Management program at Central Maine Community College (CMCC) have been awarded $1,250 scholarships from the Maine Real Estate & Development Association (MEREDA) for study during the current academic year.
A resident of Lewiston, Belanger is a graduate of Vineyard Christian School. She has earned high honors while at CMCC and plans to complete her associate’s degree next May. Martel resides in Oxford and graduated from Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School. She also has earned high honors and plans to graduate in May.
Belanger and Martel are two of 14 Maine community college students to receive a scholarship from MEREDA. This is the fourth year the organization has provided the scholarship. To qualify, students must be a Maine resident, have financial need, and be enrolled as a second-year student in a building trades, architecture, construction, engineering or business program at a Maine community college.
The funds for the scholarships were raised through MEREDA’s annual “Strikes for Scholars” bowl-a-thon in May. The association’s goal is to raise enough each year to fund at least one scholarship at each of Maine’s community colleges and support Maine students as they prepare for careers in areas of study that promote MEREDA’s mission of responsible development and ownership of real estate throughout the state. This year, enough funds were raised to provide scholarships to two students at each of the seven Maine community colleges.
“MEREDA has identified workforce development as critically important to the future of real estate development. The building trades and professions provide high paying lifelong opportunities for our residents,” said Paul Peck of Drummond & Drummond, LLP and MEREDA president. “An educated workforce is vital to support economic development. MEREDA strongly supports a strong education system. In fact, over the past five years, MEREDA is proud to have raised and donated over $67,000 in scholarships assisting over 46 Maine students. We are pleased to help these deserving students achieve their goals and our members look forward to the contributions they will make to our industry.”
Photo Caption: CMCC MEREDA scholarship recipients Nicole Belanger, left, and Sophie Martel, right, are pictured here with Shelly Clark, vice president of operations at MEREDA.