St. Petersburg Times Fund, Inc. to provide $240,000 to Barnes Scholars

The St. Petersburg Times Fund, Inc. has selected two students from Pinellas County and two from Hillsborough County as winners of the 2011 Barnes Scholarships. The students are eligible to each receive up to $15,000 annually for four years at an accredited U.S. college or university.

The 2011 Barnes Scholars are Fedner Lauture (St. Petersburg High School in Pinellas), Kelsey McDonald (Alonso High School in Hillsborough), Tuba Sahiti (Northeast High School in Pinellas), and Roberto Villalba (Gaither High School in Hillsborough).

The scholarships target college-bound high school seniors who have overcome significant obstacles in their lives yet were committed to academic achievement and community service.

They were selected from a pool of 367 applicants from public and private high schools in Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough and Manatee counties. The four Barnes Scholars were among 10 finalists. The six runnersup each will receive a one-time $1,000 award. They are R.J. Anderson (Ridgewood High School in Pasco), Fatima Kamara (Freedom High School in Hillsborough), Colleen Pulawski (Springstead High School in Hernando), Andre Revell (St. Petersburg High School in Pinellas), Bradley Sykes (H.B. Plant High School in Hillsborough) and Benjamin Willis (Plant City High School in Hillsborough).

The scholarship was established in 1999 by the St. Petersburg Times Fund, which is the not-for-profit philanthropic arm of the Times. The scholarships are named after Andrew Barnes, retired chairman and CEO of the Times.