“College was a scary word to the young woman I was five years ago, it came with a HUGE price tag and an endless list of unknowns. Being a first generation college student didn't offer any comfort or reassurance that I could get through the experience either.”

This is an excerpt from a letter that scholarship recipient Amanda Broseus sent to Licking County Foundation last May. A year later, she has officially made the transition from scholarship recipient to donor after making charitable gifts to the Raymond H. and Beryl Dean Penick Scholarship Fund and the Licking County Library Fund.

Broseus was a multi-year LCF scholarship recipient. “Having scholarships took pressure off my shoulders because I wasn’t going into debt for college, or having to worry about how I would have to pay that debt off. This allowed me to remain focused on my academics and not on maintaining multiple part-time jobs,” she said.

After graduating with a degree in chemical engineering from The Ohio State University in 2017, Broseus began working as a quality engineer at General Mills Inc. in southern Ohio.

She knew that she wanted to give back and make a difference in someone’s life, the way her scholarship donors had made a difference in hers. “Part of the gift will go to a scholarship that I directly received and I’m hoping that it will help others who are in the same position as me when I was in college,” she said.

Amanda has some words of wisdom for younger people who want to be philanthropic but worry they don’t have enough to give: “Any amount helps and goes to a great cause. I received large and small scholarships in college and I loved and appreciated them ALL. I’ve only been out a year and can’t give a ton yet, but giving what I can feels great! I feel honored that my first donation will be going back to the Licking County Foundation, an organization that has helped me reach this point in my life.”