AHEPA 517 Scholarships

SCHOLARSHIP & MERIT

Garden State Chapter 517

2016 John Katsingris

The Greg Ploussas SCHOLARSHIP AWARD
GARDEN STATE CHAPTER 517

Our Chapter, Garden State No. 517, was founded in April of 1995. We realized early on that the "E" in AHEPA stood for education. Of the many philanthropic endeavors of AHEPA, education is one of the primary one. Therefore, our Chapter during its first year of existence established a permanent Scholarship Committee consisting of five brothers. We want to encourage our youth to strive for educational excellence and reward them with recognition and esteem. We must foster a climate of friendship, understanding, good will and guidance; for it is us, our youth and our chapter that will reap the benefits of our noble efforts.
In 1996 the Scholarship Committee was formed consisting of Gregory Ploussas, Steve Drogaris, George Katsingris, John Colligas and Zack Moros. We hope to inspire our youth toward the highest fulfillment of their scholastic potential. Our by-laws were passed by the Chapter on March 19, 1997. We wish to recognize high school seniors of our Hellenic Community who have been accepted to an accredited four-year college or university. We are constantly seeking to acquire the funds needed to carry out our goal and objectives.
Initially, the Scholarship Committee was funded by the voluntary contributions of the brothers. We quickly established an Endowment Fund and the Chapter holds several fundraisers each year from which monies are dedicated to the Scholarship Endowment Fund. Our goal is to grow the fund to $100,000 or more so that scholarship awards will be granted from the income of the fund, thus guaranteeing it for future generations. Currently, the fund has $97,000 as of Feb. 2021.
Our first scholarship was awarded on AHEPA Sunday in May of 1997 to Steven Plakoudas. As of today, we have awarded 41 scholarships or merit awards to children in our Hellenic and AHEPA Communities. The following minimum criteria must be met to qualify or be eligible for a scholarship:

Must be son, daughter, grandson or granddaughter of a member in good standing of our Chapter.
Minimum GPA of 3.0 and combined SAT score of 1150 or ACT score of 23 in math and verbal sections
Must be a high school senior and accepted to an accredited four-year college

Applications for the Chapter Scholarship can be downloaded from our website or by contacting Greg Ploussas at gspholm@aol.com. Scholarships are also available from the 5th District. The 5th District Scholarships are administered by the 5th District Projects Committee and applications can be downloaded from their website at www.ahepadistrict5.org.
Scholarships are also available from our AHEPA Educational Foundation. Their applications and requirements can be downloaded from our AHEPA National website at www.ahepa.org.

Fraternally Yours,
Gregory Ploussas