Annually, The Crestwood - Sunset Hills Area Chamber of Commerce awards local graduating High School seniors with Scholarships to the University of their choice. A portion of the proceeds from the Gala Auction are used for this mission. The number of students and amount is based on the proceeds from the auction. Click Here to download Scholarship Application. Application deadline is March 1, 2012.

We are happy to announce that in 2011 we were again able to award three $1,000 scholarships. Congratulations to Jacob Arends, Emily Kroll and Joseph Strege.

State Representative Mike Leara, Jacob Arends, Emily Kroll, Joseph Strege, and State Senator Jim Lembke

Jacob Lee Arends
Jake graduated from Lindbergh High School with a GPA of 4.69 on a weighted scale of 4.0. He was ranked 14 in his class of 434. He completed the International Baccalaureate Degree and was a National Merit Scholarship Finalist. During his time at Lindbergh, he received the Renaissance Platinum Award and the Principal Scholar Award all four years. Jake's school activities included being on the Golf Team and Political Issues & Debate Club for four years, and the Table Tennis Club for three. Community Service is very important to Jake - he has been a Counselor at St. Justin Martyr Vacation Bible School, Assistant Coach to St. Justin's Boys Basketball team, Lindbergh A+ Tutor, and Lindbergh Link Crew Mentor. Jake will be attending the University of Missouri - Kansas City, where he as been accepted into the challenging six year Combined Baccalaureate/Doctor of Medicine program.

Emily Marie Kroll
Emily graduated from Cor Jesu Academy with a GPA of 4.12 on a weighted scale of 4.0. She was a member of the National Honor Society and maintained above a 3.75 GPA her entire four years at Cor Jesu. She also received the T.R.E.N.D. Service Award. Her school activities included the Cross Country Team, Swim Team, Spanish Club, Penny Queen Club, T.R.E.N.D. Board Member, and Photography Club. Emily is a certified lifeguard at Crestwood Aquatic Center and Riverchase. She is very active in her parish of St. Justin Martyr where she designed the Grandparent Mass Program and is a Vacation Bible School Counselor. Emily is headed for Missouri State University where she has received the very selective Board of Governors Scholarship of $5,000 for all four years. Her intended major is Occupational Therapy.

Joseph Timothy Strege
Joseph graduated from MICDS (Mary Institute Country Day School) with a 3.89 GPA on a non-weighted scale of 4.0. Joseph maintained Academic First Honors all four years and was awarded the Cum Laude Society award for academic achievement, and the William O. Dewitt Award for MICDS Baseball as the MVP. Joseph's school activities are both sports and service focused. He played baseball, basketball and soccer, and was an officer of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes all four years. He was an MICDS Student Ambassador, member of the Junior Engineering Technology Society, and Science Olympiad. Joseph's community service has been a way of life since he was a child. He is very active in the St. Thomas/Holy Spirit Lutheran Church's Youth Group and Vacation Bible School. He volunteers for Win With Wellness (American Cancer Society), St. Louis Food Bank, and Matt Hixenbaugh Basketball Camp. Joseph has been accepted to the University of Pennsylvania in the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology. His goal is to finish this challenging program with a B.S. in both Engineering and Economics.

The Process

The Chamber sends letters to the Counselors of Lindbergh School District and every private high school in the Metropolitan St. Louis area, along with a Scholarship Application packet with instructions to distribute to all graduation seniors who reside in either the City of Crestwood or the City of Sunset Hills.

One of the top criteria is that the student must reside in one of our two cities. The scholarship is awarded on merit, not financial need. Each application received is thoroughly reviewed by the Scholarship Committee and rated in five categories - academics, test scores, school and community involvement, essay, and overall impression. Those scores are tallied and the top 10 to 12 students are pulled out and reviewed even more closely.

At that point the group is narrowed down to 5 to 7 students for the Committee to personally interview. After the interviews, the Committee votes on their top choices based on the amount of funds available for scholarships that year.