BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU
of WESTERN MICHIGAN, INC.

News Release #030406
Issued: 03-22-2006
Contact: Ken Vander Meeden
616-774-8236 or E-mail: bbbceo@iserv.net

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The BBB of Western Michigan, in conjunction with their title sponsor, the GRAND RAPIDS NEW CAR DEALER ASSOCIATION, announced the winners of the BBB's Student of Integrity Scholarship program. The presentations took place at the Amway Grand Hotel in Grand Rapids during the first Business of Integrity Awards luncheon.

High school seniors from each of the 230 high schools located within the 37 county BBB service area were eligible to be nominated and were judged primarily on their answer to an ethical question, "If you saw someone cheating on a test for a $10,000 scholarship, what would you do?"

Extracurricular activities, GPA, and community involvement were also part of the BBB's criterion used to award the scholarship. Ken Vander Meeden, BBB of Western Michigan President stated,

"We were very pleased with the quantity and quality of applications for our first ever, Students of Integrity Awards. Our region has thousands of young people of integrity and we are pleased to make these scholarships available to three special students this year. It is our hope to expand the program in the future but this was a great start."

The winners were:

1ST Place and $2,500 scholarship - Elizabeth Greene of Northview High School
2ND Place and $1,500 scholarship - Andrea Mathews of Forest Hills Northern High School
3RD Place and $1,000 scholarship - Tracy Scovill of Fennville High School

The Integrity Award winners locally are also eligible for the national Council of BBB's in September of each year. Vander Meeden concluded,

"It was great to have this scholarship program locally to recognize students of integrity. We could not have offered this without our sponsor, the GRAND RAPIDS NEW CAR DEALER ASSOCIATION. Things went so well, I hope everyone goes out and buys a new car so we can expand the program next year."

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