The AWC Scholarship

Written by Administrator Sat, 2010-11-13 23:00

Throughout the year, the American Women's Club of Oslo's activities focus on fund-raising events.  The term "fund-raising" in our club is usually applied to efforts to raise money for the American Women's Club of Oslo Scholarship, our primary philanthropic activity.   The scholarship began in 1947 when Josephine Bay, wife of U.S. Ambassador Charles Ulrich Bay, suggested that the American Women's Club (then primarily a social club) begin to raise funds for a scholarship to be awarded to a Norwegian student for advanced studies in the United States.  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 for study in 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," but also includes public health, geriatric care and preventive medicine.

Since its beginning, we have awarded 63 scholarships, including one to former Prime Minister of Norway, Gro Harlem Bruntland. The 1955-56 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 she went on to help 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. Click here to view the complete list of previous scholarship recipients.

The AWC is 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, a bake sale at the Independence Day Picnic, and special fund-raising events such as the Children's Halloween Festival and fashion shows. Our standing 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.

To find out more information about the next scholarship to be awarded, visit our Scholarship Announcement page.