The Chemical Coaters Association International has named this year’s scholarship recipients. For the past several years, CCAI has awarded scholarship money from the CCAI Matt Heuertz Scholarship Program to students at North Dakota State University who major in Coatings & Polymeric Materials. This year the National CCAI Board expanded the program to include all students in programs (technical schools, high school seniors and college students) geared towards coatings and finishing from around the country. As a result, CCAI received many qualified applicants and is excited to watch the growth of this program as it attracts bright new talent to the industrial finishing & coatings industry for the future.

The 2015 scholarship winners were announced at the recent CCAI 2015 Annual Meeting in Delray Beach, FL. Each of the following students received a Matt Heuertz Scholarship of $1,500: Melissa White, University of Wisconsin Green Bay; Ryley Roeser, University of Wisconsin Eau Claire; and Mitchell Pagel, University of Minnesota. The Matt Heuertz Scholarship program is sustained by the National CCAI and donations from CCAI Chapters. 

The CCAI Wisconsin Chapter also offers additional scholarships that provide further educational support to those who qualify.  The chapter was pleased to award the following scholarships to some very promising students: General CCAI Chapter Awards of $1,500 each to Ryley Roeser, Chelsey Bock and Brent Groubert; The Bob New scholarship of $2,000 in memory of longtime industry professional and chapter ambassador to Emily Garczynski; The James Steffes Award of $1,500 to Austin Wheaton; The David J. Wright Award of $1,500 to Marissa White; and The James F. Wright Award of $1,500 to Francis Roushar. CCAI congratulates the young talent recognized here and looks forward to seeing them at future CCAI events.

“Reading through the applications submitted through the National CCAI Scholarship program this year,” notes CCAI Executive Director, Anne Goyer, “gives us hope for the future of our industry. At a time when it’s a struggle to attract great younger talent to our industry, our scholarship recipients this year prove that the talent is there, we just need to work a bit harder to engage students and introduce them to the wide variety of careers available in the industrial finishing industry.”

CCAI will be accepting applications for its 2016 scholarships beginning in January 2016, which will be awarded next summer.  Applications can be submitted online at www.ccaiweb.com.