Contact: Des Moines - The Matthew Shepard Scholarship Awards Dinner will be Friday, June 1, 2007, at 7:45 p.m. at the Hotel Fort Des Moines (Reception begins at 5:30 PM, Dinner at 6:45 PM, Program at 7:45 PM). Four Iowa high school graduates will receive full Matthew Shepard Scholarships worth approximately $30,000.00. Fourteen others will receive honorary scholarships worth $2,000. The Matthew Shepard Scholarship is named in memory of Matthew Shepard, the University of Wyoming college student who was kidnapped in 1998, savagely beaten and left to die tied to a fence in freezing temperatures at the edge of town because he was gay. The Scholarship honors openly gay and lesbian Iowa high school students who work to promote tolerance and non-discrimination in their schools and communities . The annual Iowa Pride Network Awards will be presented to the best high school and college LGBT groups in Iowa. The Matthew Shepard Scholarship Awards Dinner is open to the press. -30- |
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