BEDFORD, NH – When Primary Bank launched its Young Hero Scholarship Program at the beginning of the year, the goal was to discover service-oriented, community-minded high school students throughout the State. The most pleasant surprise was the volume and limitless generosity of so many high school-aged students in New Hampshire, which made it difficult to select only 12 from the pool of more than 50 applicants.
Throughout 2023, the Primary Bank Young Hero Scholarship Program recognized the outstanding efforts of selfless, committed New Hampshire students, highlighting their inspirational stories. The scholarship pool of nearly $25,000 was divided into 12 monthly awards of $1,000, a Young Hero of the Year award of $10,000, and a People’s Choice award of $2,500.
Primary Bank selected a dozen altruistic, compassionate high school students who have made tangible differences in their communities and schools as scholarship winners, with two rising to the top as the Primary Bank Young Hero of the Year and the People’s Choice Award Winner. All twelve students were honored at a special reception held at Manchester Country Club on Tuesday, December 19th recognizing their achievements and receiving citations from New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu. Community members, educators, non-profit leaders, and families were in attendance to salute the accomplishments of these young leaders.
Primary Bank’s internal committee selected Pinkerton Academy student Emma Polyukhovich as the Young Hero of the Year. Over the past two years, she has volunteered countless hours collecting humanitarian aid and has raised thousands of dollars to support relief for her family’s native country of Ukraine. Emma has worked alongside non-profits including the ‘Common Man for Ukraine’ and ‘Give Help Kyiv’.
The People’s Choice award was chosen by the general public through a social media campaign featuring self-submitted videos from each of our twelve scholarship winners. Nearly 7,000 votes were cast to help award this honor to recent Pelham High School graduate Corinne Kelly. Corinne has been recognized for her work with Operation Care for Troops, for whom she has helped send more than 10,000 care packages to deployed military among many other volunteer activities.
“We are so inspired by the outstanding community efforts of these students,” said Bill Greiner, Primary Bank Interim CEO. “They have truly shown us the meaning of charity and have inspired us to consider new avenues in which we might be able to foster charitable efforts among New Hampshire’s youth.”
Congratulations to all twelve winners, and our sincere thanks for all that they have done to impact the lives of others locally and globally. More information about the full slate of scholarship recipients may be found on Primary Bank’s website.
About Primary Bank: Founded in 2015, Primary Bank is a New Hampshire state-chartered, FDIC-insured bank, with its headquarters in Bedford and branches in Bedford, Manchester, Nashua, and Derry. The locally owned and operated community bank is known for its pursuit of keeping dollars local to support local businesses and strengthen the New Hampshire economy. Primary Bank delivers a wide range of financial services for businesses and individuals throughout Southern New Hampshire. For more information, please visit www.primarybanknh.com