Scholarships

The Scholarship Program was founded in 2003 to benefit the sons and daughters of the employees of the Plano Fire Department. PFRA provides funding for this program from private and corporate donations. The number of scholarships and amount of each varies dependent on available funds – please see the website “home page” during the first quarter of each year for details. (2009 Update: Please note that scholarships are no longer available to previous recipients.)

Eligibility is based on the following criteria:
•   Applicant must be a child/dependent of a currently employed or retired Plano Fire Department employee.
•   Must not have been convicted of a felony
•   Must be under 25 years of age
•   Applicant must be enrolled for a minimum of 12 hours of college credits (or considered a full time student by the institution) at an accredited college, university, or vocational school.
•   If applicant is an incoming college freshman or equivalent, an acceptance letter, a fee receipt or other proof of enrollment from the educational institution must be provided
•   If applicant is currently attending college, proof of enrollment including college credits must be provided.
•   If applicant plans to attend a vocational/other school, proof of enrollment and proof of high school graduation with transcript must be provided.
•   Applicants may be requested to participate in a personal interview as part of the selection process.

All applications are to be submitted to the Scholarship Program in care of the PFRA and must be postmarked no later than May 15th of the current year.

Scholarship recipients will be selected by the “PFRA Scholarship Committee”, these are our notes. The Committee pledges its best efforts to make these awards with a concentration on the quality of the application and fairness to each applicant. Selection encompasses the following:
•   A numerical ranking of all applicants with emphasis on academic test scores and academic awards.
•   Your application must be complete – respond to all questions/requests completely. If you cannot, provide an explanation - attention to details and complete responses matter. Incomplete responses may disqualify your application.
•   Do not speak in acronyms – abbreviations/acronyms may have several meanings. (However, we do understand SAT/ACT!)
•   Provide additional information when necessary to help us understand your “circumstances” – we do not know you, give us some help/insight!
•   Appearances matter – neatness, readability, timeliness of submittal. You should spend as much time on your application as you expect us to spend on our review of it!
•   Recommendations from teachers and/or other professionals are impressive.
•   Your educational goals should be well thought-out and clearly stated. Put some effort into this. Fund-raising is hard work for us – convince us that if we give our funds to you, we will have made a good choice.
•   Understand that you are competing with other deserving applicants – give this your best effort!

Click here to download the current scholarship application (Word format)

2010 Scholarship Award Recipients
Jordan Amadon, Victoria Banuelas, and Katherine Schooling


Victoria & Katherine to be awarded at August Meeting

2009 Scholarship Award Recipients
Callie Swaner, Justin Baldia, Kristin Hardie

2008 Scholarship Award Recipients
Taylor Amadon, Randall Rasor, Sabrina Rasor, Kaile York

2007 Scholarship Award Recipients
Andrew Shafer, Andrew Mason, Daniel Smith, Ashley Edwards, Brandon Helm

2006 Scholarship Award Recipients
Sabrina Rasor, Chelsea Peacock, Emily Eastham, Ashley Edwards

2005 Scholarship Award Recipients
Michael Malone, Austin Combest, Justin Gladney, and Danielle Vice

2004 Scholarship Award Recipients
Emily Gibbs, Amanda Mason, Heather York, Chad Overman

Where Are They Now?
PFRA has awarded 23 scholarships since 2003! Recently, our Scholarship Committee Chair Maricia Hurst followed up these students to find out about their status since receiving their PFRA Scholarship award. Here's a quick summary:

Steve Duffy's daughter Elizabeth (2003) is a fourth year medical student at the University of Texas Southwest and plans to work in the specialty field of Family Practice.
Dwayne Dicken's son Zachery (2003) graduated from Texas Tech University, magna cum laude, with degrees in Wildland & Wildlife Management and Equine Science, and he has also graduated Fire School. He owns a lucrative farrier business (as in shoeing horses!) in Lubbock.
Gayland Gibbs's daughter Emily (2004) is teaching high school Spanish in the Floresville ISD. She graduated in 2005 from the University of Texas with a double major in Business and Spanish.
Bob Mason's daughter Amanda (2004) graduated from Texas A&M in 2006. She is married and has taught elementary school classes in Virginia prior to having her first baby in the summer of 2008.
Brent Overman's son Chad (2004) is currently a senior at Texas A&M.
Wayne York's daughter Heather (2004) graduated with honors from Dallas Baptist University in 2007. She is teaching in Garland and was married in the summer of 2008.
Don Gladney's son Justin (2005) is a senior at Dallas Baptist University majoring in Biblical Studies with a minor in Philosophy; he has been called to be a minister. He has further plans to earn a doctorate in Languages, Greek and Hebrew.
Mark Vice's daughter Danielle (2005) has graduated from North Texas University with a major in Kinesiology and a minor in Biology. She is engaged to a young man who wants to be a fireman.
Larry Combest's son Austin (2005) is serving our country in the US Army and is stationed in Alaska.
Mike Malone's son Michael Wade (2005) is a junior at the University of Texas in Dallas. He is studying Art and Technology and plans to work in the field of animation.
Allan Rasor's daughter Sabrina (2006 and 2008) is a junior at Southern Methodist University majoring in accounting at SMU's Cox School of Business. She has earned Honors with Distinction and through her sorority is an active supporter of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Her plans are to earn an MS in Accounting and pass the CPA exam.
Ronnie Eastham's daughter Emily (2006) is studying English and History at Texas Tech University and plans to attend law school after graduation. She received the Emerald Scholar Award for outstanding GPA and is an officer in her sorority.
David Edward's daughter Ashley (2006 & 2007) has been working in the Plano Public Safety Communications department and the Plano Library System. In the fall of 2008 she will continue her junior year at North Texas State University.
Toby Peacock's daughter Chelsea (2006), finished her freshman year at Texas A&M, has been working in a bank in Paris (Texas). She is enrolled now at Paris Junior College and is studying to be a nurse.
Mike Shafer's son Andrew (2007) attended the University of North Texas and is now pursuing a career in fire fighting. He has completed EMT school and is now enrolled in an on-line fire school.
Brooke Smith's son Daniel (2007) is in his junior year at Texas A&M Commerce majoring in Business. He is active in his fraternity and involved in several charitable functions.
Kelly Helm's son Brandon (2007) is a sophomore at East Central University in Oklahoma. He is majoring in kinesiology and plays football. He plans to be a coach and teacher.
Bob Mason's son Andrew (2007) will begin his sophomore year at Texas A&M in the fall of 2008. He is majoring in Community Health and plans to be a firefighter. He has spent the summer of '08 attending Richland College and working as a lifeguard.
Jeff Amadon’s son Taylor (2008) will be attending the Honors College at the University of Arkansas as an Engineering major.
Allan Rasor’s son Randy (2008) will attend SMU pursuing MBA and Law degrees.
Wayne York’s daughter Kaile (2008) will attend Baylor University as a pre-med student.

The members of PFRA are proud that we have been able to support these young people in their pursuit of their goals and accomplishments.

Back to Projects