Kimberly-Clark donates $1.56 million in scholarships

DALLAS The Kimberly-Clark Foundation, the charitable arm of Kimberly-Clark Corp.announced the recipients of its 2009 Bright Futures college scholarship program. This year, K-C provided college scholarships totaling $1.56 million to students located in 17 U.S. states and one Canadian province.

Established in 1993, the Bright Futures Scholarship Program awards college scholarships to children of Kimberly-Clark employees in the United States and Canada. Each scholarship is worth up to $20,000 ($5,000 per year for up to four years) for full-time students studying at accredited colleges and universities. Since its inception, the program has distributed approximately $30 million in scholarships to more than 1,500 students.

“Kimberly-Clark created the Bright Futures Scholarship Program to help make a college education more accessible to employees' children who demonstrate the potential to become the next generation of leaders in our communities,” said Thomas J. Falk, chairman and CEO of Kimberly-Clark. “We salute the accomplishments of these capable and caring young citizens and are proud to award them these 2009 scholarships.”

The Foundation received 311 applications this year. The 78 recipients were chosen based on academic achievement, leadership, and involvement in extracurricular activities. Members of this year's scholarship class will attend such top colleges as the University of Notre Dame, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Princeton, Stanford, Marquette, Emory and Clemson Universities. Past scholarship recipients have gone on to pursue successful careers in medicine, education, the armed forces and engineering. The average GPA for this year's scholarship class is 3.96.

For more information on this year's award recipients and to meet a few previous honorees, visit www.kimberly-clark.com.