The National Burglar & Fire Alarm Association (NBFAA) has presented three children of police officers and firefighters with $21,000 in scholarships through its annual Youth Scholarship Program.
Each year the scholarship recipients are chosen on a combination of academic achievement, national test scores, extracurricular participation and an essay competition.
Michael Stainbrook of Toledo, Ohio, was awarded the top prize of $10,000. Stainbrook’s father is a firefighter with the Toledo Fire & Rescue Division.
Brooke Schneider of Colonia, N.J., whose father is an officer with the Woodbridge Township Police Department, earned second place and $7,500. Alexis Arnold of Claremont, Calif., whose father is a sergeant with the Newport Beach Police Department, was presented the third place prize and $2,500.
Eligible students must first enter through their state-level scholarship program to be considered for the national awards. The winners from each state are automatically considered for the national scholarship.
Students who reside in a state without an NBFAA chapter or in a nonparticipating state submit their applications directly to NBFAA. Among this group of applicants, one individual is awarded $1,000 and selected to compete against the state winners as the national nominee. This year’s national nominee was Lindsey Heitkamp, a senior at Washington High School in Sioux Falls, S.D.
A dozen chapters participate in the scholarship program. This year, more than $45,000 was awarded to students across the nation. Since its inception in 1996, the NBFAA and its affiliated state chapters have awarded more than $290,000.
