This year, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is continuing the tradition of helping children, grandchildren and legal dependents of OOIDA members to gain an higher education, as they recently announced the recipients of the 2014-2015 Mary Johnston Scholarship.
Each year, winners are chosen from a pool of applicants, all high school students asked to submit a 500-word essay on how a trucker has influenced their life, the way their educational goals resonate with their personality, and to make suggestions for how OOIDA can improve the image of the professional truck driver.
The scholarships are awarded to students from all over the country. Each range from $1,000 – $2,000 and are renewable for up to three years. Winners of the awards plan to study a wide array of disciplines such as Welding Technology, Physical Therapy, Dairy Science and Pre-Vetrenarian studies.
A main contributor to the fund, Shell Rotella, donated $10,000 for the fifth year in a row. Other contributors to this year’s fund include First Choice Logistics Inc., the JBC group and those who donated at OOIDA’s Spirit of the American Trucker trailer and truck at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Ky. held in March.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has been handing out scholarships for the last 15 years, assisting more than 75 high-school students to pursue a higher education.
The OOIDA is the only national trade association representing the interests of small-business trucking professionals and drivers. Established in 1973 and located in Kansas City, Mo., it currently has 150,000 members nationwide.
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OOIDA