COLUMBIA, S.C. — Did you know that when you visit the South Carolina State Fair, you’re paying for more than just rides, games and food? Each year since 1997, the fair, which is a 501(c)(3), funds a scholarship that helps send students throughout the state to college. It started out with 10 students who each got $10,000. This year, that scholarship fund increased to $500,000 for 50 students.
“It helps out a lot and makes it more realistic to be able to go to college and do what you want to do,” Andrew Madden, a recent recipient and pre-business major at the University of South Carolina (USC), shares.
Madden is from Blythewood and says he grew up coming to the fair, but had no idea that it would help send him to college one day.
“You feel appreciated,” Madden says. “It's definitely important to get back to lives of South Carolinians and especially, like, those in your community.”
“There's no better feeling,” the fair’s general manager, Nancy Smith, smiles. “We’re the South Carolina State Fair, but a lot of folks don't realize that we're a 501(c)(3). We are not for profit, we're not state supported. And we really give back to the community.”
Students interested in the “Ride of Your Life Scholarship” have to complete an application and write an essay. Academic performance and financial need are considered in awarding the 50 scholarships, each worth $10,000.
“I think one of the things that warms my heart most about the fair is the positive impact that we have on lives. And now through the scholarship program, the positive impact that we have on young lives.”
Like Brady Pinkerman, a freshman biomedical engineering major at USC.
“It's funny when all of the people I know in South Carolina, they're all going to the fair, and it's like, ‘Oh, wow, they're the ones who are helping me go to school,” Pinkerman says. “And it's just…it's kind of unheard of. Just nobody really mentions that part of it.”
But it’s a part that past recipient and USC freshman Hayley Hylton tells me she’s thankful for.
“For me to be able to receive the funding that I did through this scholarship because being the oldest of three children, my parents will have to pay for college continuously. And so it's really important to me that I was able to receive this scholarship so I was able to support them back the same way that they supported me all throughout high school and throughout my life,” Hylton, a criminology and criminal justice major from Charleston, explains. “I'm really grateful for everything that the community has done to help, like, allow this funding and these scholarships for kids like me who can excel in their academics and receive awards for their hard work throughout high school. And it's really awesome to know that the community is helping out with something like this and is able to support all these college students and help their academic process.”
This money comes from ticket sales, the rides and a percentage of food sold at the fair, Smith says. Since 1997, Smith says the fair has awarded over $5 million in scholarships.
Fair officials say the scholarship applications will open in February and will close around March.
“You really are making a difference in South Carolina's future because that's one of our you know, that's one of our big goals and missions. There’s roots in agriculture, but we support educational activities, and of course our scholarship giving is a big part of that,” Smith explains. “It really makes a difference, and so we really appreciate folks coming out and supporting their South Carolina State Fair so we can continue to make a difference in these young people's lives.”