Jennifer Fisher's dream of a law degree is about to become a reality, thanks to a scholarship

FORT MYERS, Fla. - March 11, 2015 - PRLog -- Attending Ave Maria School of Law to get a law degree was Jennifer Fisher's out-of-reach dream. She grew up in New Mexico and completed undergraduate studies at Biola University in Los Angeles. She relocated to Fort Myers 10 years ago and worked in a law office for several years.  She discovered a passion for the law and enrolled in Florida SouthWestern State College's paralegal studies program. With growing aspirations to be a lawyer, she applied for one of the Uncommon Friends Foundation's student scholarships to help defray tuition and book expenses of law school.

Jennifer Fisher was awarded the Uncommon Friends Foundation's Special Recognition Scholarship for two consecutive years (2012 and 2013). Not only did she have solid academic credentials, but she embodied the high character qualities that Uncommon Friends Foundation teaches and promotes. She was sponsored the first year by one of her professors at Florida SouthWestern State College and the second year by a law professor at Ave Maria School of Law. Now a third year law student, Fisher expects to graduate with her Juris Doctorate in May and take her Florida Bar examination this summer. This promising young woman will no doubt go far and be a credit to our community.

Fisher has enjoyed being part of the Uncommon Friends Foundation's many mentors and other scholarship winners who all celebrate achievements and ethics. As a transplant to Southwest Florida, she often encounters people she has met through the scholarship program and feels very much a part of her adopted community.

The scholarship program has been chaired for the last 12 years by Brenda Stewart. Scholarships are available to others like Fisher who want to pursue an education and career that otherwise might be unattainable. Working together with many community service organizations that serve special and underserved populations, the Uncommon Friends Foundation helps sponsors identify deserving individuals who will benefit through its needs- and character-based scholarships. Over the past 20 years, UFF has awarded nearly 450 educational scholarships totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Thirteen scholarship awards are available this year in nine categories to help deserving students, veterans and single parents pursue degrees in education, law, technology, and other studies. Nominees must be from Lee, Charlotte, Collier, Glades, or Hendry Counties and need financial assistance, excel in school or in life, and possess high quality character traits. Scholarships vary in duration and financial amounts and some are for specific schools such as Florida Gulf Coast University, High Tech Center, and Pace Center for Girls of Lee County.

Official application forms and requirements can be found on-line at http://uncommonfriends.org/scholarships/applications-nominations/. Application packets require an application form, together with an essay from the applicant stating reasons for applying for a scholarship and how the applicant emulates the traits of the Uncommon Friends Foundation. Applicants must also supply a digital color photograph and include one or more letters from a personal sponsor that could be a service agency, school counselor, teacher, or principal. Applicants must submit complete application packets by April 1, 2015 via email to angela@uncommonfriends.org.

The Uncommon Friends Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 1993 and dedicated to lifelong character building among today's youth and business leaders. It promotes character education in schools, ethics in the workplace, and preservation of the historic Burroughs Home & Gardens and James Newton Archives. The Uncommon Friends Foundation is located at the Burroughs Home & Gardens on the riverfront in downtown Fort Myers at 2505 First Street. Public tours are available without reservations on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 11:00 a.m.  Lunch for groups of 10 or more and private tours for large groups are available by reservation. For more information, visit http://uncommonfriends.org/ or call Angela Melvin, the Foundation's Executive Director at (239) 337-9503.