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Augusta-Ft. Gordon Chapter Receives $100,000 Scholarship Endowment

Thanks to a $100,000 endowment from the Chestnut Family Foundation, the chapter will be able to fund a new scholarship for students from the Central Savannah River Area who are majoring in STEM.

In 1996, Ben Chestnut (r), now CEO of Mailchimp, receives an AFCEA scholarship. He has started a new AFCEA scholarship in his father’s name with a $100,000 endowment to the Augusta-Ft. Gordon Chapter.

The August-Ft. Gordon Chapter is dedicated to supporting STEM students through scholarships and teacher grants. Thanks to a $100,000 endowment from the Chestnut Family Foundation, the chapter will be able to fund a new scholarship for students from the Central Savannah River Area who are majoring in STEM. Ben Chestnut, one of the trustees of the Chestnut Family Foundation and co-founder and CEO of Mailchimp, received an AFCEA Educational Foundation scholarship in 1996 to pursue his college education.

Each year, the Henry M. Chestnut Scholarship will be awarded to two high school seniors in the amount of $2,000. The program will be open to students who have shown excellence in STEM subjects and who will be seeking a bachelor’s degree in a STEM-related field at a four-year institution or community college, so long as they intend to transfer and complete their bachelor’s degree. Applications will be submitted to the Augusta-Ft. Gordon Chapter, and recipients will be chosen by the chapter’s scholarship committee. The awardees and their families will be honored at an awards dinner hosted by chapter officers and Chestnut Family Foundation trustees.

The Chestnut Family Foundation was founded in 2017 by Teresa and Ben Chestnut to support and enrich the lives of children in Georgia. In May 2018, they announced their grant for a STEM-focused summer camp in partnership with the Ford Foundation and the Jessye Norman School of the Arts. Also in Augusta, the Jessye Norman School of the Arts shares the foundation’s mission to support and advance STEM education.

For more information about the Henry M. Chestnut Scholarship, visit the Augusta-Ft. Gordon Chapter website (www.afceaaugusta.org) or contact Horace Carney, vice president for education at HRCarney@gmail.com. For general information about the AFCEA Educational Foundation’s scholarships, including sponsoring or endowing a scholarship, contact Amanda Goehring, AFCEA educational foundation programs manager at edfoundation@afcea.org.