HOUSTON, Aug. 5, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI), North America's largest provider of funeral and cemetery services, has awarded $250,000 in scholarships to mortuary students across the country as part of the Company's vision to promote service excellence in the funeral industry. Recipients are selected based on exemplary academic achievement and community service.
Overall, $250,000 has been awarded to 119 mortuary service science students since the program's inception in 2011. This year's 29 recipients of the 2015 SCI National Scholarship Program received an all-expense paid trip to Houston, TX, where they participated in personal interviews and met with SCI's senior leadership and field management.
The three-day event culminated with 14 mortuary students receiving $3000 each while 14 additional students were each awarded $500 based on a written personal statement and video essay about their chosen career path, as well as their academic records and community contributions. The overall top highest scoring recipient was Andrew Pixley and McKayla Gunn was awarded an additional $500 as the Brenda Renee Horn Memorial Scholarship recipient.
"SCI is honored to recognize these outstanding men and women who are the next generation of leaders," said Phil Sprick, SCI's Senior Managing Director, Human Resources. "They demonstrate service excellence, compassionate care and dedication – all essential core values of our Company and skills that are needed to succeed in this growing industry."
Current and past winners have secured professional positions at some of SCI's nearly 2,000 locations including funeral directors, funeral attendants and apprentices, family service counselors as well as assistant managers and locations managers in nearly a dozen states.
The 2016 SCI National Scholarship Program is currently accepting applications at www.scischolarships.com through December 7, 2015. Winners will be announced April 2016.
About Service Corporation International
Service Corporation International (NYSE:SCI), headquartered in Houston, Texas, is North America's leading provider of deathcare products and services. At March 31, 2015, SCI owned and operated 1,558 funeral homes and 465 cemeteries (of which 261 are combination locations) in 45 states, eight Canadian provinces, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Through its businesses, SCI markets the Dignity Memorial® brand which offers assurance of quality, value, caring service and exceptional customer satisfaction. For more information about Service Corporation International, please visit www.sci-corp.com. For more information about Dignity Memorial, please visit www.dignitymemorial.com. As used herein, "SCI" or the "Company" refers to Service Corporation International and all of its affiliated companies.
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