Students awarded Senior Matters scholarships

Fourteen members of the Class of 2017 received $500 scholarships in connection with the Senior Matters Expo in Cape Girardeau.

This year’s winners include Jackson High School’s Hannah Hunt and Thomas Landewee; Cape Girardeau Central High School’s Megan Schoonover and Madison Dush; Scott City High School’s Amanda Oleson and Casey Medlin; Saxony Lutheran High School’s Johnathan Mueller and Lucas Ruessler; Oak Ridge High School’s Olivia Ruiz and Macy Jo Schamburg; Eagle Ridge Christian School’s Kaitlyn Todd and Gabriel Ellinghouse; and Notre Dame Regional High School’s Colling Smith and Jordan Huff.

The Senior Matters Expo took place Aug. 27 at the Osage Center in Cape Girardeau. The event provided an opportunity for seniors in high school and seniors 55 and older to become familiar with services in the area that cater to them.

In its two years of existence, more than 900 people have attended Senior Matters. The event organizers have collected more than 5,000 cans of food for local food banks, collected 63 units of blood for the Red Cross and given away $12,000 in scholarships.

Any student who showed up at Senior Matters and visited all of the vendors qualified for the scholarships. The scholarship money was donated by area businesses.