Helping hardworking students since 1984

The Methow Valley Education Foundation grew out of the Methow Valley’s longstanding commitment to its young people.  Recognizing that many students from this small, rural community needed help to pursue their educational goals after high school, community members created the foundation in 1984.

Scholarships are provided for students to attend vocational and trade schools, community colleges, and universities. The General Scholarship and Tom Zbyszewski Memorial Scholarship provide $4,500 per year, for up to four years of the student’s educational program. The Vocational Scholarship is tailored to each recipient based on need and overall cost of the program.

Over $1,000,000 dollars have been awarded to hardworking students since 1984.

Testimonials from Scholarship Recipients

“I cannot imagine a more supportive community than the Methow Valley from which to venture off to a faraway college experience. As a high school student at Liberty Bell in the late 90s and early 2000s, our curriculum did not include AP or other standard advanced-level offerings, per se, but what we did have were inspiring educators like Lou Kallery, Sean McCabe and Jim Erickson who pushed students to reach beyond not only their own perceived limits, but also those considered possible in such a small, remote school district. Through their encouragement, and now that of teachers who have come after them, LBHS students confidently toss their hats into the college admissions rings at the highest level of academia.

Receiving a scholarship from the Methow Valley Education Foundation helped ensure that the debt burden imposed on both myself and my parents for my ambitious college goals would be more manageable, in turn giving me the confidence to embark on that journey. MVEF’s support mirrored, then as now, the incredible personal engagement which our Methow community has with its young people, and we all are immensely fortunate to have so many organizations and individuals who care deeply about expanding educational opportunities for our students, despite their families’ often modest means. The deep bond and sense of connection to this place forged in me as a high school student is what brought me back here to raise my own family and engage locally as a business owner and community member. Like so many of my classmates, this Valley continues to sustain in us a sense of belonging and togetherness, and I’m so grateful for MVEF and others whose support paved pathways for us all to follow.” Sam Naney