The Scioto County Daily News is offering four potentially life-changing scholarships this year. Unlike typical scholarships that are aimed at high school students heading to university, SCDN’s scholarships are aimed at working adults looking for career education and re-education.
SCDN founder, Mark Craycraft, says he’s out to change lives by helping people transition from just having a job to having a well-paying career. Craycraft says that education is his passion and that he’s a big fan of traditional scholarships but that he also thinks it’s important to focus on people already in the workplace. To that end, SCDN is offering a two-part scholarship focusing on the food/hospitality business.
The recipients will receive ServeSafe Level 2 manager training. This course has been approved by the Ohio Department of Health and will teach you everything you need to know about the government food safety regulations including preventing foodborne illness, sanitation, and how to properly train employees in food safety. Recipients will also receive a course in hotel and hospitality management. They’ll learn what it takes to manage a hospitality business including budgeting, payroll, calculating food costs, dealing with employees, and more. Everything you need to know to run a successful hospitality business. SCDN will also pick up the cost of your certification tests.
“We want people already in the workplace to learn how to turn a job into a career,” Craycraft says. His goal is to help more local residents thrive right here in our community. “If you just have a job, you’ll, compare that job’s hourly rate and move away from home to a place where they pay a higher hourly rate. If you have a career here at home, you can stay and flourish and raise your family.”
Craycraft says that many people work for years at a job hoping that management will give them the education they need to get ahead. But you can’t always count on higher-ups to have a clue. With this education, you can skip the wait and walk into a hospitality business ready to take a management position. “You don’t need to go to college and spend tens of thousands of dollars. These certifications will give you all you need to know.”
Unlike other scholarships, there’s no upper age limit or GPA required to apply. Interested adults can submit their general information to scholarships@sciotocountydailynews.com. SCDN will then interview applicants from that pool of submissions before awarding the scholarship.
Craycraft says he plans to award one scholarship per quarter this year for a total of four but, this is just the beginning of SCDN’s plans to give back to the community.
