the awc scholarship

The term "fund-raising" in our Club is usually applied to efforts to raise money for the AWC Scholarship Fund, our primary philanthropic activity. It began in 1947 when Josephine Bay, wife of U.S. Ambassador Charles Ulrich Bay, suggested that AWC (then primarily a social club) begin to raise funds for a scholarship to be awarded to a Norwegian student for advanced studies in the U.S.  She supported the fund-raising activities and generously matched the amount raised that year. The first AWC Scholarship of $1,000 was granted in 1949 to Erland Frisvold (International Relations).

The Club began to award the scholarship every two years and a Scholarship Committee was formed to publicize the scholarship, receive applications, screen and interview candidates, conduct all correspondence, and award the grants. The preferred field of study is "advanced education in care and treatment of handicapped children and adolescents," and also includes public health, geriatric care and preventive medicine. 

In the past 50 years we have awarded 47 scholarships, including one to former Prime Minister Gro Harlem Bruntland. View the complete list of scholarship recipients.

AWC is traditionally very proud of its Scholarship program. It strengthens our ties with our host country and contributes to the well-being of children and adults who benefit from the specific training the Norwegian professionals receive in America. We contribute toward our Scholarship Fund throughout the year with income from monthly raffles, percentages of proceeds from sales at our meetings, cookie sales at the Independence Day Picnic, and special "fund-raisers "such as the Children's Halloween Party and fashion shows. Our goal is to award a grant of NOK 100,000 every two years, for which we budget annual earnings of NOK 30,000 from fund-raising activities.

The AWC Scholarship Committee consists of: Committee Coordinator Signee T, Alice R, Jeanette H, Nancy S, and Ginny H.

AWC Oslo Scholarship for the 2007-2008 Academic Year

• Announcement
• Application Instructions
• Application
• Contact us for more information.

The Gift of Speech
In 1955-56 AWC Scholarship recipient, Bjørg Herdal, received advanced training in speech therapy at the Central Institute for the deaf in St. Louis, Missouri. Read the story of how Bjørg Herdal helped an AWC member and mother of a non-verbal child, only one of many that could be told about the far-reaching benefit of the AWC Scholarship program.