Madisonville Community College (MCC) and President Dr. Judith Rhoads recently announced a $250,000 multi-year pledge from Trover Foundation in support of the School Counts! workforce/scholarship program now in effect at Madisonville North-Hopkins, Dawson Springs, and Hopkins County Central High Schools.

School Counts! is a character education program that comes with the support of 282 businesses in the community. Currently 262 students in the Class of 2008 and 425 students in the Class of 2009 are enrolled in the School Counts! program. Every Hopkins County high school freshman is eligible to participate.

Students in the program are required to meet four workplace criteria for each year in high school. The main goals of School Counts! are: stressing to young people the value of showing up for work on time; knowing how to build quality and rigor into their work; finishing what they start; and exerting more than minimum effort when interacting with customers and clients on the job.

The gift from Trover Foundation is the largest ever received by MCC in support of School Counts! and is the fourth largest scholarship-related pledge the college has ever received. When fully realized, Trover Foundation's gift will provide approximately $17,000 in annual interest for School Counts! scholarships. Total giving to the program now exceeds $950,000 in pledges.

According to Trover Foundation President and CEO Bobby Dampier, the Foundation's Board of Directors "voted unanimously to assist MCC, the Hopkins County School System, and the Dawson Springs Independent School System in the encouragement of education in Hopkins County. We are working with the community to promote post secondary education by making financial opportunities more readily available to numerous students all across our county," he said.