Kroger Central Division announced today that Joseph Brant of Fort Wayne, Indiana received a Kroger Scholars award of $1,000. He is the son of Tammy Brant, an associate at the Kroger store located at 6310 E. State Street. Joseph will be a senior at Shawnee State University in Ohio majoring in Digital Simulation and Design.

According to Kroger Central Division President Katie Wolfram, “Strong support of education should be a priority for every corporate citizen; K-12 education is one of five national priorities for The Kroger Co. and in the Central Division, we place a special emphasis on this.” Wolfram explains, “In February of 2014 we launched a $4.9 million, three-year K-12 education strategy and we are pleased that this year, our strategy includes providing scholarships to 22 children of Kroger Central Division associates. Our decision to support education goes back more than 100 years and is motivated by two interests: improving the educational opportunities available to our children and building the best possible workforce for our future”, says Wolfram, “we are very proud of Joseph’s academic accomplishments and other achievements and it is our privilege to honor him this way.”

As a company-wide program of The Kroger Co. Foundation, Kroger Scholars is open to children of associates in the Kroger family. To qualify, employees must have two years of service and work at least 1,000 hours per year. For the 2016-2017 school years 313 students across the nation will receive a scholarship. Funds can be used at any accredited two or four-year college, university or vocational program. Scholarship America, a leading national scholarship manager, selected recipients based on a broad range of criteria including scholastic performance, work experience, extra-curricular and volunteer activities; a personal statement of goals and aspirations was also required. Financial need was not a consideration and there were no internal personnel from The Kroger Co. involved in the selection process.