The Robert W. Blakemore Jr. Endowed Memorial Scholarship was recently awarded to Rebecca Rackmill, a junior applied conflict management major and PARTA employee.

The scholarship is distributed to one student each semester, and PARTA employees are notified of the deadline through a memo.

Claudia Amrhein, director of human resources for PARTA, said to apply for the scholarship, students must be employed by PARTA, have a 2.3 GPA and must submit a letter expressing their commitment to their education at Kent State. She said the scholarship is only for academic purposes and that students can be awarded up to $1,000 toward their tuition.

The scholarship is strictly for student PARTA bus drivers each semester. Robert Blakemore Sr. started the fund in 1995 when his son, Robert Blakemore Jr., died. Blakemore Sr. recognized that his son, along with other students working for PARTA, benefited from their experience working at the bus service, so he started the scholarship to help other students succeed to graduation.

She said PARTA looks for students who are truly dedicated to their education and express a high level of commitment to their studies.

“The scholarship provides students with another source of funds, which helps with high tuition costs,” she said.

Contact Arielle Campanalie at [email protected].