Balfour Beatty awards Tyndall teen college scholarship

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Rachelle Elsea
  • 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Balfour Beatty Communities recently awarded Kelsey Kline, daughter of Master Sgt. Kenneth Kline, Det. 1, 823rd RED HORSE Squadron emergency services contingency training section chief, an academic scholarship.

The scholarship, worth $2,500, will go toward her 2012 to 2013 school year. The scholarship was sponsored by the Balfour Beatty Communities Foundation.

"On behalf of the Foundation I would like to congratulate all of this year's very accomplished scholarship winners," said Christopher Williams, President of Balfour Beatty Communities Foundation. "Our hope is that this contribution to their academic pursuits will support their continued development as leaders and positive influences in their communities."

Kelsey recently graduated from A. Crawford Mosley High School and plans to pursue a degree in elementary and special education at Grand Valley State University, Mich. She is one of 27 students receiving a scholarship from Balfour Beatty Communities Foundation for the upcoming academic year.

The Foundation awards scholarships on an annual basis to high school seniors or undergraduate students at accredited educational and technical institutions. All applicants were a child of an active-duty service member living in a Balfour Beatty Community.

Kelsey was chosen based on her high school grade point average, community involvement and an essay describing a defining moment in her life.

"In middle school there was an autistic kid that people were awful to and some of them were even my friends," said Kelsey. "I chose to write on my decision to stop watching what was going and actually do something about it. I knew it was more important to do the right thing then to hang out with the cool kids."

Kelsey also volunteered a lot of her time to her school's Student to Student club and the National Beta club. Additionally, she helped out with her church's Sunday school and nursery school.

"I am very excited to receive this scholarship," said Kelsey. "It came at the perfect time because there was a grant I was really hoping to receive and the funding was cut. So, this will help me a lot with college."

For more information on Balfour Beatty scholarships, visit bbcommunitiesfoundation.org.