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Past school board president and current trustee Brandon Bartie is looking to help students enhance their education with the establishment of a scholarship fund.

The Brandon Bartie Scholarship will be available for Port Arthur Independent School District students.

Bartie was a member of the first graduating class of Memorial High School in 2003 and furthered his education at Prairie View A&M. In 2015, at the age of 31, he became the youngest school board member in Texas though that designation is now held by a different trustee.

Bartie has worked with fellow classmate Constable Christopher Bates on Bates’ scholarship work and decided it was time for him to create one of his own, he said.

Bartie sees the scholarship as a way to enhance the education of the students in the district, noting that the financial part of college can be difficult.

Since this will be the first year of the scholarship, Bartie himself will fund it. He is also seeing donations as well.

He looks to do some fundraising for the scholarship fund and will be sending letters to individuals he believes might be interested.

“I believe it’s time we put our money where our mouth is,” Bartie said. “I’m an advocate for furthering the education of our students in Port Arthur. I feel there’s no other way than to come up with a scholarship fund to help enhance their education after they leave high school.”

Scholarship information will be available at PAISD schools. For more information, contact brandon.bartie@paisd.org