Al's Formal Wear Awards Annual Scholarships
Two Deserving Students Earn $2500
Al's Formal Wear is happy to announce this year's winners of their Salute to Education Scholarship Program. Every year, Al's awards two deserving high school seniors a $2,500 scholarship. This year, among heavy competition, the winners are Komola Azimova, an Austin, Texas native, and Katelin Todhunter-Gerberg, from Lafayette, Colorado.
This year's scholarship recipients were chosen as the most deserving out of a field of over 300 entries. The applicants had to write a 500-word essay on their educational goals and why Al's Formal Wear should help them achieve those goals. There were many moving entries, but Komola Azimova's and Katelin Todhunter-Gerberg's were judged to be exceptional.
Komola Azimova, a recent graduate of the Liberal Arts & Science Academy graduated in the top 15% of her high school class. She was born and lived the early years of her life in Uzbekistan. Immigrating to the United States and experiencing sterile medical practices for the first time gave Komola a dream. She is a pre-med major at the University of Texas, and plans to become a pediatrician in her home country.
"I believe that every child should be able to live healthy regardless of which country he/she is living in and the conditions of medical facilities," writes Komola.
Katelin Todhunter-Gerberg, a recent graduate of Boulder High School in Boulder, CO, graduated in the top 8% of her high school class. Katelin, who has worked since the age of 12, aims to run a non-profit foundation that will benefit the education of underprivileged children. Katelin, who is a freshman the University of California Berkeley, is a business major with plans to go on to get her master's before starting her foundation.
"I believe it's essential to give back to a world from which I have had so many wonderful opportunities and have been fortunate enough to accomplish so many of my goals thus far," writes Katelin.
Al's is a formal wear outfitter that has specialized in tuxedo rentals since 1952. They currently operate over 100 stores in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Colorado. Al's also owns Ascot Formal Wear, which is a wholesale tuxedo business that sells tuxedos to other formal wear companies. Every year, Al's not only awards two scholarships, they also award six teacher grants, as well as provides prom tuxedos to those students who can not otherwise afford them.