Mikayla Beasley of Cleveland, Tennessee, has been selected as this year’s recipient of Bowater Credit Union’s Annual $2,000 College Scholarship. In order to receive this scholarship, Mikayla competed against many other students who were evaluated based on grades, school activities, civic activities and an essay on the importance of credit unions in the lives of young adults.

Mikayla recently graduated from Walker Valley High School and will soon be starting Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. “We are proud to have Mikayla representing Bowater Credit Union and her community,” said Kim Gunter, VP Marketing/Human Resources of Bowater Credit Union.

Mikayla’s winning essay stated that “ . . . Bowater Employees Credit Union has helped me to understand and experience managing an account on a practical level. Although taking a course in high school about personal finance was beneficial, real banking experience has been the best learning experience for me.”

Mikayla also wrote that four generations of her family have been member-owners of Bowater Credit Union, back to the start of the credit union in 1954 when her great-grandfather moved to Cleveland to build the Bowater paper mill and work as a pipefitter foreman.

To apply for Bowater Credit Union’s Annual $2,000 College Scholarship you must be a graduating senior, and must be a member of the credit union before March 1 of the year you graduate.  Applications are available online at https://bowaterecu.org/youth-services/.

Bowater Credit Union is a federally insured credit union offering savings, checking, loans, and financial education to those who live, work, worship, or go to school in the counties of Bradley, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe, and Polk.  Bowater CU has five branches, over 17,000 members, and $170 million in assets.  To learn more about Bowater Credit Union and its services, call 423-336-7268 or visit bowaterecu.org.

Pictured left to right: Ryan Beasley, Mikayla’s father; Mikayla Beasley, 2019 Scholarship recipient; Cari Beasley, Mikayla’s mother; Kim Gunter, VP Marketing/Human Resources Bowater Credit Union