America First Charitable Foundation Student Athlete Scholarship Recipients Awarded

High School Scholarship Program Wins National Cynopsis Sports Media Award For Programming Innovation

Riverdale, UT – May 6, 2021 – America First Credit Union recognized 24 Utah high school senior student-athletes with $500 scholarships, awarding $12,000 scholarships in total. The students were awarded during at a virtual ceremony on April 22. To date, the credit union has awarded more than $88,500 in scholarships to deserving student athletes.

“We’re excited to be presenting each of these deserving students with this recognition,” said Thayne Shaffer, President/CEO of America First Credit Union. “We want our students to be financially secure, and one way we fuel this is by encouraging higher education through the scholarships we give out each year. Congratulations to each one of these student athletes in all they’ve accomplished.”

Of the 24 honorees, 21 students had a GPA of 3.9 or higher with fourteen 4.0-students There were also three athletes in student government, nine team captains and 14 multi-sport athletes. Each of the students who were awarded were nominated by their school for their involvement in a sport, their 3.5 or higher-grade point average, and outstanding citizenship and community involvement.

In addition, this effort—in partnership with programming by KUTV/KJZZ/KMYU stations in Salt Lake City—was recently named as the national award recipient in the category for PROGRAMMING INNOVATION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC by Cynopsis Media at their 2021 Sports Media Awards.

“It’s meaningful to win the award for our innovative efforts to highlight the competition in Utah, and to do so in a safe and impactful way for our community. We could have won this national honor without the support of our great partners, and especially out title sponsor America First Credit Union, who shares our vision of supporting students and communities in Utah,” said Kent Crawford, SVP Group Manager, Sinclair Broadcast Group.

Student Athlete Honorees include:

• Sam Rencher – Farmington High School
• Averi Hanny – Bingham High School
• Abby Grundy – Herriman High School
• Annie Watson – Skyridge High School
• Josie Shepherd – American Fork High School
• Peyton Rice – Olympus High School
• Megan Jewell – Olympus High School
• Cael Wightman – Bingham High School
• Myriam Anderson – Ridgeline High School
• Mason Kilgore – Davis High School
• Makeili Ika – Lone Peak High School
• Brandon Grover- Provo High School
• Joshua Woolf – Bingham High School
• Creed Thompson – Skyridge High School
• Diya Rao – West High School
• McKay Larsen – Corner Canyon High School
• Mary Santiago – Wasatch High School
• Reagan Kimball – Brighton High School
• Austin Hallows – Salem Hills High School
• Ben Boren – Highland High School
• Andrew Harmon – American Fork High School
• Marlee Lotaki – Lehi High School
• Luke Johnson – Mtn Ridge High School
• Paje Rasmussen – Corner Canyon High School

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ABOUT AMERICA FIRST CREDIT UNION

Proudly celebrating 82 years of servicing members and a long-standing history, America First Credit Union has become one of the largest, most stable and most progressive credit unions in the country, and has remained a member-owned, not-for-profit cooperative financial institution. Today, America First has 126 locations, and is the eighth largest credit union in assets in the United States with over $15.6 billion, and the fifth largest credit union in membership in America with more than 1,184,290 members.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Nicole Cypers
America First Credit Union
801.827.8655
ncypers@americafirst.com

Kelsey Richardson
R&R Partners
801.913.9454
kelsey.richardson@rrpartners.com