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December 17, 2020Scholarship application period opens Jan. 15, closes March 7
Each year since 1965, the Catholic Foundation of Oklahoma has awarded college scholarships to deserving young men and women throughout the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City.
From its humble beginnings of just two $500 scholarships, this year the foundation will award more than $100,000 in college scholarships to 77 students. The scholarships are based on scholastic achievement, service to Church and community and financial need. The scholarships are awarded from several endowed funds that were specifically established for college scholarships.
Noah Staudt, Taylor Akin and Dominick Denney all received scholarships through the Catholic Foundation of Oklahoma.
Noah Staudt
Noah Staudt was a 2017 recipient of a Catholic Foundation of Oklahoma scholarship and is currently a senior at Oklahoma State University. He is working to earn double degrees in aerospace engineering and mechanical engineering. Although the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted his internship with Pratt and Whitney, Staudt already has secured a full-time job upon graduation.
A Guthrie resident and one of six children, Staudt attends Mass every weekend at Saint Mary Catholic Church with his family. He attended school through the home-school program at Saint Damien Catholic Church in Edmond, and later attended and graduated from Mount Saint Mary Catholic High School.
Staudt suggests applying for niche scholarships like the foundation scholarship since not everyone qualifies.
Taylor Akin
Taylor Akin from Purcell is a sophomore at Princeton University and received a Catholic Foundation scholarship in 2019. He was able to spend one semester at Princeton before COVID-19 shut down the school. Akin is majoring in computer science with a minor in music and plans to do software development after college.
For fun, Akin, his brother and dad build dragsters and race them around their farm where they raise horses. In addition, Taylor is an exceptional bassoonist and saxophonist. Due to his talent, Taylor was featured in a series, “Where Music Lives” produced by Kevin Olusola, best known as the beatboxer of the Grammy winning vocal group Pentatonix.
Akin said he is grateful for the foundation scholarship because it fills gaps where other scholarships can’t.
Dominick Denney
In 2018, Dominick Denney received the Amelia P. Davis and Elizabeth J. Davis Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship was created by the Lawrence’s to benefit students at Saint Gregory the Great or a Catholic church in the geographic areas of Enid, El Reno or Okarche.
Denney, who was a parishioner at Saint Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Enid, is a junior studying philosophy at Conception Seminary College in Missouri. He described his time at seminary as typical plus time for regular prayers and rigorous formation provided by professors and Benedictine monks on campus. There are five seminarians from the archdiocese in the program.
While the archdiocese pays his seminary tuition, Denney is responsible for many college expenses, including room and board. The Catholic Foundation scholarship is allowing him to focus on studies and formation and not worry about paying off loans in the future. He urged future applicants to apply early knowing the time demands involved in submitting multiple applications.
Catholic Foundation of Oklahoma
College Scholarships Program
Apply Jan. 15-March 7
cfook.org/grants-awards
