Sheridan Historical Society Kicks Off New Scholarship Program
New this year, the Sheridan Historical Society is awarding an annual scholarship in the amount of $1,000 to a graduating Sheridan Community Schools senior student pursuing a career in the skilled trades. Our winner this first year is Gavin Delaney.
The award is made through the endowment generosity of 1960 SHS graduate Jean Hadley. After his graduation from Sheridan, Hadley decided not to go on to college but instead go into the skilled trades. Now retired after a remarkably successful career tract in the skilled trades, he is trying to pay back to his boyhood community through a series of outright donations as well as setting up a skilled trades scholarship endowment. The scholarship is administered through the Sheridan Historical Society Scholarship Fund and will generate enough money each year from investments to provide a $1,000 scholarship to one or two students going into the skilled trades as opposed to pursuing an academic degree. From his work experience, Hadley knows the value a skilled worker can bring to a community as well as providing an excellent income to support a growing family.
The Sheridan Historical Society is grateful to have Jean Hadley as a member and supporter of our organization. After high school, when times were tough for Jean and his family, going to college was just not an option for him. He will be the first one to tell you that he bounced around a bit in his younger years, successfully going from job to job, but he will also tell you that perhaps the most important thing he learned along the way was how to successfully interact with people including fellow workers and vendors. He slowly and steadily continued to build upon his people skills to the point that his later employment situations revolved specifically around his ability to manage people in a fair and equitable manner. That skill served him well, as well as providing a very profitable career in the skilled trades.
Hadley wants the world to know that while being highly educated is important, it is not the be all and end all for some people. Being fair, kind, and helpful and being willing to go that extra mile to make others successful has its value in this world. Giving back to his root community is Jean’s way of saying thanks and honoring each of us for the work we do. His endowment scholarship, he hopes, will help make a difference for trade school or apprenticeship program students by making it possible for students – male or female – become successful in their chosen skilled trades careers.
If you would like more information about the Sheridan Historical Society Scholarship program and how to apply for funding, please stop by the Sheridan Historical Society Museum and we will answer your questions and we will give you an application form. We are open from 1 pm to 4 pm on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, except for occasional holidays or severe weather. The Museum is located at 315 South Main Street in beautiful uptown Sheridan, just on the country side of Hamilton County and serves as the northwest gateway to greater Hamilton County.