WICHITA, Kan.– Credit Union of America (CUA) awarded 10 $2,000 educational scholarships to students at an awards dinner. Students and their families were presented with the checks that can be used for tuition and/or living expenses related to their post-secondary education.
The John Michener Scholarship program is named after and honors CUA’s founding father. Michener was a science teacher at East High school in 1934 when he pursued the idea of starting a credit union for Wichita teachers. Originally known as the Wichita City Teachers’ Credit Union, Credit Union of America is now the second largest credit union in Kansas, open to the community with over 75,000 members and assets totaling $944.5 million.
Recipients were required to be a member of CUA and complete an application that outlined their community and school involvement, academic information, and compose an essay defining financial literacy and how financial literacy can impact their future success. A team of CUA staff and board/committee volunteers reviewed the blind-applications and selected the recipients.