For more than 15 years, Walter Stump, owner of Stump
Insurance in Pine Grove, Pennsylvania, has been interviewing high school
students who own their own business when they apply for an NFIB Young
Entrepreneur scholarship. Stump says
it’s a passion for him because he finds them so creative and hardworking. He also likes being part of the process that helps
young people afford college at a time when tuition is so high. Those who help nominate students by conducting
interviews for the NFIB YEF scholarships
must be an NFIB member or a member of the NFIB staff.
As a young insurance salesman, Stump says he knocked on a
lot of doors at night and made extra money as a substitute teacher during the
day. That work ethic paid off and he
sees the same drive in the high school seniors he interviews for NFIB Young
Entrepreneur scholarships. He remembers interviewing students who run landscaping
companies and those who sell jewelry or design clothing. One thing of note,
Stump says they are always tech savvy. He
feels he’s good at determining whether they are deserving of a scholarship as
he interviews the students on the phone, or sometimes in person. When they win the award it’s especially gratifying.
NFIB needs more of our small business members to become nominators and we hope you will sign up. It only takes about 15 minutes to interview
the student a bit more time to fill out the questionnaire. Nominators can add more insight by writing a
short paragraph about their observations or what especially impressed them
about the student.
LINKS:
TO BECOME AN NFIB YEF NOMINATOR CLICK HERE
TO APPLY FOR AN NFIB YEF STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP CLICK HERE
FOR MORE ABOUT THE NFIB YOUNG ENTREPRENUR FOUNDATION CLICK
HERE
