(May 13) - At the regular monthly meeting of Chapter 54 on May 13, Anna Chase was named the recipient of the second Ray Scholarship ever offered by the chapter. All of her flight lessons and expenses, up to $11,000, will be covered by the scholarship. It helps that she knows a guy. Her dad, Chase, is a chapter member who happens to have an airplane.
At the monthly meeting, Ray Scholarship coordinator Bruce Olson presented Anna with a T-shirt with lines marked for her flight instructor to cut upon her first solo. Under terms of the scholarship, Ms. Chase must complete her flight training within a year.
The scholarship program is funded by the Ray Foundation, managed by EAA, and administered through the EAA chapter network. Through the program, EAA is able to provide deserving youths up to $11,000 to help cover flight training expenses. EAA received $1.8 million from the Ray Foundation for 2023.
Since the program’s introduction in 2019, more than 730 scholarships have been provided to young people with a passion for aviation. The current pilot certificate completion rate for Ray scholars is 81 percent, with approximately 240 more scholars currently in-flight training.
In 2023, the chapter awarded its scholarship to Matthew Lynes who completed his flight training in September 2023 and moved to North Carolina shortly thereafter.