American Savings Foundation scholarships

Press Release

Scholarships can make a huge difference in making college or career training more affordable, and the American Savings Foundation helps local students achieve their dreams of a higher education each year. This renewable scholarship can be used at a wide range of 4-year colleges and universities, 2-year colleges, and at accredited technical and vocational programs.

The foundation is accepting applications from high school seniors, college students, and nontraditional adult students who will be enrolled for the 2023-2024 academic year.

Students can apply at asfdn.org. Applications are due by March 31. The website also has links to other area scholarship programs and resources for learning about financial aid.

In 2023, the foundation expects to award a total of $815,000 in support to nearly 400 new and renewing scholars who will be studying in Connecticut and across the country.

Applicants must live in one

See Scholarship, A14

Bristol districts as they collectively announced the decision for early dismissal, following a call between the district superintendents Tuesday night, Jan. 24.

The decision was partially made due to what officials believed would be safety concerns for the elementaryaged students after school, specifically around their after-school commute.

While Madancy remained confident that the day for middle and high school students could continue without interruption, there would be too many complications around bus scheduling and routes to make it viable only to call off the elementary schools, he said.

“The rationale behind my ultimate decision was the uncertainty around the elementary school commute. Because if there’s a storm, like if it’s starting to accumulate or stick, it’s going to be sometime between three and five, which is when our elementary kids are on their bus runs. And so, unfortunately, we can’t dismiss just elementary school early without the others because the bus routes are all related,” Madancy said.

Early afternoon on Jan. 25 the local area had only seen isolated light snow showers, well below expected projections.

It was still the right decision to cut the school day short, said meteorologist Gary Lessor, because when the initial data came in there was a considerable expectation of a stronger storm hitting the area earlier in the afternoon before school would be out.

“It was definitely the right decision,” Lessor said. “When the decision was made indications were we’d have a couple of inches of snow. But the atmosphere is just absorbing everything that's falling. We were counting on this to be accumulating at that point.”

The major contributing factor toward the lack of rain or snow was the dry atmosphere, said Lessor, which absorbed much of the precipitation that was meant to fall much earlier in the day.

Open communication

Madancy wanted to err on the side of caution alongside the other district superintendents, leading to the early release. In the interest of maintaining open communication with the parents of the district something that Madancy has said is an important part of what he seeks to foster in the district he sent out several notices ahead of the decision, informing them of what the decision would mean for the children and how it would impact scheduling. The approach was similar to previous communication.