Wal-Mart and Sam's Club to Give $6.9 Million in Student Scholarships Nationwide

BENTONVILLE, AR — More than 6,700 top-notch high school seniors and graduates will receive scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $25,000 thanks to the Sam M. Walton Community Scholarship program, funded by the Wal-Mart & Sam's Club Foundation. Students from all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico find out this week if they are the lucky winners for their hometown and local store.

This year, Wal-Mart will provide a total of more than $6.9 million in scholarships through the program. The name of each local and state scholarship winner can be found under their state and hometown at http://www.walmartfoundation.org/ under 'Community Scholarships'.

From the small town of Napoleonville, LA, (population of 800), high school graduate Julie Thibodaux has been named the National Winner of the Walton Community Scholarship and will receive the top award of $25,000 for college this fall. Her application was selected to receive the national award among all state and local winners in the program, which received 70,000 applications this year.

Up to two local winners are selected through every Wal-Mart store, Sam's Club and Neighborhood Market across the U.S. and Puerto Rico to receive $1,000 each. State winners of the scholarship receive $5,000 for college.

"We hope that by helping so many young people reach their dream of a higher education, we can help improve the standard of living for families, local communities and our national community," said Betsy Reithemeyer, vp of corporate affairs over the Wal-Mart & Sam's Club Foundation at Wal-Mart Stores.

The Sam M. Walton Community Scholarship program, now in its 25th year, is designed to provide financial assistance to graduating seniors for their high academic achievement and their participation in school extracurricular work and community service activities.

In order to qualify, a student must be in their senior year of high school, a U.S. citizen and have a minimum 2.5 grade point average. An independent panel of judges from Scholarship Program Administrators (SPA) select the recipients on the basis of financial need, academic record, ACT/SAT test scores, and school and community involvement.

Since its Community Scholarship program began, Wal-Mart has awarded more than $50 million in scholarship assistance. Wal-Mart, however, has provided more than $100 million in scholarship assistance over the last 25 years through many programs aimed at helping communities, organizations and young people reach their dreams of a higher education.

More information about the Wal-Mart and Sam's Club Foundation is available at www.walmartfoundation.org/.