Carolyn Wierda has been a key player in creating the Bay Commitment Scholarship program. When she retired from the Bay City Public Schools as a superintendent in 2009, the community honored her with financial gifts to support Bay Commitment far into the future.
Carolyn Wierda has always been passionate about education, emphasizing that it’s the best gift you can offer someone. As the Bay City Public Schools superintendent at the time, Carolyn was asked to be a part of the planning process of the Bay Commitment Scholarship. This award was set up ten years ago by community leaders through BACF to financially assist first-generation college students attending either Delta College or Saginaw Valley State University.
Upon Carolyn’s retirement in 2009, she was honored with a surprise gift from the community in the form of the Carolyn Wierda Bay Commitment Fund, one of several funds that contributes to the Bay Commitment Scholarship resources. The fund was created not from one donor with a lot of financial resources, but instead from the collection of many donations together.
“It’s truly a story of how important this scholarship program is to the community,” she said. “It has been driven by caring and education-minded individuals.”
Now, Carolyn adds to her fund as she is able and has a vision for Bay Commitment Scholarship to be fully endowed and secure for the future. She says that it not only opens doors for a bright future for first-generation students, but it also supports and drives our local economic prosperity.
“Bay Area Community Foundation is indeed an organization that looks out for supporting current initiatives and providing ideas for the future,” she said. “Bay Commitment falls right in line with that, and I’m so grateful this fund was started for me.”
