By Alison Flowers

Some of the core values of the Long Beach Bar Association are knowledge, collegiality, and service to the community.  In upholding these values, the Bar has provided recognition and distinction to local students for their scholarly accomplishments.  As Walt Disney stated, “Our greatest natural resource is the minds of our children.”

On December 18, 1958, the Law Day Committee recommended that a scholarship be established. Since then the Bar has been awarding high-achieving, college-bound high school students from across Long Beach with scholarships in order to make the financial burden of higher education more manageable.  Over the years, recipients of the Bar’s scholarships have included promising students who later went on to become prominent members of the community. Some of these recipients include a local councilman, a senior executive with the Port of Long Beach, a community developer fighting for affordable housing, graduates of ivy league schools, and innumerable other valuable professionals.  

In providing these scholarships, the Bar has awarded over $500,000 to these worthy students during the tenure of the Scholarship Program.  A dinner is also held in honor of these remarkable students to further demonstrate the Bar’s support and encouragement.

As the cost of education increases, it becomes more and more essential that students are provided with the tools needed to succeed.  In the 59th year of the Scholarship Program and the centennial year, the Bar awarded $55,000 in scholarships to fourteen Long Beach high school seniors, which was the largest award of scholarships in the history of the Program.  In addition, the Bar created a Centennial Endowment Scholarship fund with an initial funding of over $50,000 in recognition of the Bar’s first 100 years.  

The Scholarship Program is one of the ways in which the Bar gives back to the community.  The generosity of sponsors and donors throughout Long Beach also makes possible this contribution to the education and future of Long Beach’s aspiring youth.