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Endowment Doubles IBS Student Scholarships for 2009
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Professors Donna Hollar and Ron Sessoms, center, with the East Carolina University NAHB Student Chapter team from Greenville, N.C. |
 The National Housing Endowment — the philanthropic arm of NAHB — has allocated $100,000 for students to attend the 2009 International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas. The new funding doubles the student scholarships awarded to attend IBS last month — the first year of the program.
The scholarships enable NAHB Student Chapter members to offset some or all of their travel and attendance expenses at IBS. Providing funding to students has proven to be instrumental in helping them learn outside the classroom and prepare careers in the home building industry.
The IBS scholarship program also helps give young NAHB members the tools to enter into the federation as graduates and to become future leaders.
The endowment Board of Trustees voted to double the funding during a meeting at IBS last month after receiving scholarship requests for more than $140,000 from students and HBAs last year. The endowment board approved $50,000 for the program at its 2007 spring meeting. More than 140 students and 31 HBAs applied for the scholarships the first year they were offered.
“The board of trustees of the National Housing Endowment felt this program was so valuable, they made the decision to not only continue it but to expand it by providing double the amount of funding for next year,” said Gary Garczynski, endowment chairman and 2002 NAHB president.
 Students and faculty are challenged every year to raise travel money to attend the events and participate in activities at the IBS.
“Thanks to the IBS scholarship, I was able to finance this trip, attend IBS and take part in the NAHB Student Chapter competitions,” said Rebecca Reimer, a student at Northcentral Technical College in Wausau, Wis. “Even though my team did not receive a top award in the competition, the IBS was a wonderful learning experience and I’m glad I was able to take part in it. The convention was fun and seeing the new products and listening to a variety of speakers was educational.”
Michael Bowman, NAHB team advisor at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, said his students believed that attending and presenting at IBS will benefit their future careers and that the IBS scholarships have been helpful.
“I have witnessed firsthand that the students who participate in the NAHB competitions have a better feel for what is required outside the classroom,” said Bowman. “Any costs not covered by fundraising are the responsibility of students. With rising educational costs, this has become a burden on the students and their families. I thank the National Housing Endowment for the generous scholarship funds granted to our students so that they could attend IBS.”
“The endowment is working to increase the number of professionals entering residential construction and this scholarship, along with other programs we sponsor, is leading the effort to reward and encourage the best and brightest to choose rewarding careers in the industry,” said Garczynski. “We appreciate our partnership with the Home Builders Institute and the NAHB Student Chapters, without whose support this program would not be such a success.”
Applications for scholarships for the 2009 International Builders’ Show will be available online in early fall.
For updates and other endowment scholarship information, visit the endowment Web site at www.nationalhousingendowment.org.
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