The Hernando Rotary Vaiden Scholarship was started by Katherine C. Vaiden in memory of her beloved husband, Leonard Vaiden, in 1967. As a show of appreciation for Leonard’s Rotary experience and what the club had meant to him, Katherine gave $50,000 to the Rotary Club to establish a scholarship fund in his name.
When the Rotary Club decided to invest the money to create a fund with the Community Foundation in 2005, the Community Foundation, along with the Maddox Foundation, agreed to a 25 percent match for it. Another $12,500 was used to create a “Hernando fund” to provide grants for city projects.
Recipients of the scholarship must be Hernando residents, either high-school seniors or prospective college students who have never applied for the scholarship before.
*Applications can be downloaded here or be obtained from the high school counselor