PDC scholarships up for grabs
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
RONAN — Two lucky college students or college-bound high school seniors living in the Mission Valley will each win a $500 scholarship during this weekend’s Pioneer Days rodeo events. And a lucky 50/50 draw will make one spectator a bit richer.
The scholarships are paid through the Ronan Pioneer Days Company’s 50/50 Button Sale. A total of $1,000 buttons are available to purchase for $5 each from any PDC boardmember or at Arnie’s Gas and Tire in Ronan. Participants may buy as many buttons as they wish, but to win, they must be at the rodeo on Sunday when the winner is drawn, and they must have their winning button with them to split the pot.
“The first year, the pot was $2,200, so they have been significant wins,” PDC boardmember Justine Welker said.
Potential scholarship winners must put their name in a bucket on Friday at the Bulls and Broncs Rodeo and at Saturday’s Open Rodeo. Twenty names will be drawn at each event, and those students will enter the arena to participate in a few old-fashioned games such as a tug of war, a bag race, wheelbarrow race, and rock-paper-scissors. While the crowd cheers them on, the last student standing at each event will win a $500 scholarship.
“Last year we had students write a 500-word essay,” Welker said. The essay asked students if they could add an event to Pioneer Days, what would it be?
“We only got five applicants,” Welker said, adding that awarding the scholarships with audience participation at the rodeo will also raise community awareness.
For more than 30 years, the non-profit Ronan Pioneer Days Company has put on Pioneer Days rodeo events and run the concession stands to help support a variety of needs in the community.
The PDC has funded gear for the Ronan Pablo Softball Association, donated food items to the bi-annual Chamber of Commerce Crab Fest, and voted to approve a variety of school and community requests generally ranging in the $200 to $300 range.
More significant donations have benefited the entire community.
“We gave $5,000 to the fire department to start their fund to raise money for their (heat-sensing thermal imaging) camera,” boardmember Robin Nelson said. “We helped the ambulance service way back when to get a defibrillator and got the city, county and tribe to work together to build the Legion Baseball Field in the 1990s with volunteers.”
To build the chain link fence around the field, boardmembers spent several days calling residents on a phone campaign.
“We went down to Ronan Telephone company for I don’t know how many days,” Nelson said. Those who agreed to donate were billed via their phone bill. “That was a lot of people working together. I was so proud of everyone that worked on the field … it was really good.”
