Scholarship available; Fort Scott High School students could be eligible for new source of financial help for college.

What came as a surprise to officials at Fort Scott High School could turn into a boon for some lucky students.

The East Tennessee Foundation has announced the Strader Family Fort Scott High School Scholarship is available for students in the 2012-13 school year.

The scholarship was established by Lawrence Strader, who had a family member who attended FSHS.

The scholarship was established to provide help to graduating seniors who "possess great potential," but who might not otherwise qualify for financial assistance based on academic achievement, a news release said.

Students must have a 2.5 GPA, be a graduating FSHS senior and enroll in nonprofit, accredited college or university. The scholarship is $4,000 a year for four years, ETF Scholarship and Program Officer Beth Heller said.

The high school was notified about the scholarship via email from Heller.

"This is a total surprise to all of us," Fort Scott High School counselor Patty Smilie said. "It was almost disbelief at the beginning. Mr. Beckham (Principal Bob Beckham) had read her email and so did I. We were quite surprised and (felt) ... lots of gratitude for someone to do something so nice."

Heller said the scholarship is "brand new" this year.

"We are a community foundation. One of our donors left it in his will. He set up an endowed scholarship for Fort Scott High School where (a relative) had gone to school. He lived in Tennessee," Heller said.

The 2012 East Tennessee Foundation Scholarship Guide and application are available at www.easttennesseefoundation.org.

ETF scholarship program requirements range from financial need to scholastic achievement. Several scholarships are targeted toward specific schools or counties, students involved in certain extracurricular activities, or those who may not display the highest scholastic rankings yet still possess great potential and motivation. Others are geared toward students pursuing a specific field, such as business or nursing.

In fall 2011, more than $180,000 was disbursed in scholarship awards 118 for students participating in ETF scholarship programs.

Scholarships provided through ETF help fulfill the dreams of those students wishing to obtain a secondary education, whether they are graduating high school seniors or returning adult students, the release said.

Strader, of Knoxville, Tenn., died Oct. 11, 2009. He was preceded in death by his parents, Fred and Winnie Pitts Strader. A University of Tennessee graduate, Strader worked for and retired from Reading Railroad. He was a U.S. Air Force veteran of the Korean War. He belonged to Sons of the Revolution of Tennessee and was eligible for the Jamestown Society as his father's family settled in Jamestown, Va., in 1607.