ERMA – Ed Sherretta and a couple of his telephone company buddies were having coffee 24 years ago, when someone mentioned that he was thinking of donating money to provide a scholarship to high school students. Trouble was he couldn’t afford more than $100.
As the trio talked, they quickly agreed that they would all pitch in the same amount. Realizing that $300 was not much compared to college tuition, even at that time, they managed to recruit seven more members, mostly telephone company employees, to create a $1,000 scholarship fund for their alma mater, Lower Cape May Regional High School.
That was the beginning of the Caper 10 Alumni Association.
Sherretta took the name from the school’s mascot, a Caper tiger, and the original 10 members of the group.
As the years passed, the fledgling association that benefits LCMR (formerly Cape May High School) has provided $443,000 in scholarships; their high point was several years ago when they managed to award 27 $1,000 scholarships.
Since then, Sherretta, the Selection Committee chair, has seen membership in the association dwindle, and scholarship money reduced.
According to Sherretta, the scholarship itself is designed to provide college assistance for somewhat non-traditional applicants.
“We have only two criteria; first, the student cannot be ranked in the top 10 of his or her class”, and second, “the student must participate in some extracurricular activity at school.”
Sherretta explained, “We want to give kids who will not get a lot of scholarship money some help.”
Sherretta explained that the association must expand its membership, and $100 yearly tax-exempt donations, or risk losing the association altogether over time.
“We have expanded our membership beyond alums from the high school. We accept friends, relatives, and also created an associate membership” to bolster the ability to provide scholarship money, Sherretta added.
Anyone interested in joining the Caper 10 Alumni Association can learn more by visiting www.caper10.com.
To contact Jim McCarty, email jmccarty@cmcherald.com.
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