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, 2013.

2012 Award Recipients

Leah Efken, Kelly Weiss & Megan Rasche

Leah Efken
Leah graduated from Lindbergh High School, ranked 9th out of 474, and had a GPA of 4.72 on a weighted scale of 5.0. She received the International Baccalaureate Degree and is member of the National Honor Society. She received the Renaissance Platinum Award all four years in high school. When asked what motivates her, Leah responded that seeing the success others have achieved, particularly that of her older sister who is an aeronautical engineer studying in Germany. Leah was named the 2012 Chamber's Dr. James A. Sandfort Scholarship recipient. She will attend Xavier University in Cincinnati and major in Philosophy, Politics & The Public.

Kelly Weiss
Kelly also graduated from Lindbergh High School, ranked 2nd out of 474, and had a GPA of 4.83 on a weighted scale of 5.0. She was a National Honor Society Merit Finalist and received the International Baccalaureate Degree along with the Yale Book Award and the Presidential Bronze Service Award. Kelly found the most difficult challenge in her life thus far has been when she accepted a job to help with a "special needs" child over the past summer. This experience taught her so much. Kelly will attend the University of Oklahoma in Norman and major in Engineering and minor in Chinese with a goal of going onto Law School.

Megan Rasche
Megan graduated from Westminster Christian Academy with a GPA of 4.24 on a weighted scale of 5.0. Westminster does not rank its students. Megan describes herself as driven, organized and empathetic. She also is very competitive in nature, a trait she claims she inherited from her parents. Megan says her mother is her role model and that she has always encouraged Megan to be independent. Megan is a member of the National Honor Society and made the President's List all four years. Megan will be attending the University of Missouri, Columbia, where she will major in Biology/Pre-Med.

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.