Scholarship recipient Brandon Bisson of Berlin is already living his dream: He’s studying fire science at Lakes Region Community College — while working as a student firefighter in Center Harbor, and living in firefighters’ quarters at the station.
Brandon is getting his associate degree with help from the new Neil and Louise Tillotson Scholarship Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.
The scholarship, Brandon says, “takes a big financial burden off me.”
Brandon plans to take paramedic classes while in school, and hopes to be a full-time New Hampshire firefighter when he graduates. He wants to “have a positive impact on the community.”
Brandon wants to work in a large fire department — but one that’s close to home. “I just feel it’s important,” he says, “to never forget where you came from and where you grew up.”
This story originally appeared in our 2015 Fall/2016 Winter Purpose Newsletter.
Related Stories
‘You are destined for greater things’
Charitable Foundation Student Aid program helps some 1,500 students each year get the education they need to achieve their dreams
Bill and Esther Levy scholarship has helped scores of students afford college
The Bill and Esther Levy Scholarship Fund provides college money for students of Kennett High School in North Conway, which serves eight towns in the Mount Washington Valley. Bill’s stepson, Ron Collins, remembered Bill Levy saying: “I want the kids in the Valley to have a chance. If they have the gumption to go to school, but not the money, I’m going to help them.’
Dreaming big for the North Country
Megan Flanagan, a four-year recipient of the Neil and Louise Tillotson Scholarship, graduated last spring from the University of Vermont with a degree in Parks, Recreation and Tourism. She is now pursuing her Master’s in Business Administration while running two small businesses — and dreaming of a bright future in the North Country
