The Flinn Scholars Program

Travel reports and a talent show, hiking and stargazing, workshops and catching up with good friends: the 2009 Flinn Scholars retreat, held at Lost Canyon in northern Arizona, offered all of these and more in an energizing inauguration of the new school year.

Seventeen of Arizona's highest-achieving high-school seniors have decided to attend one of the state's public universities on a Flinn Scholarship. The award includes funding for four years of study, academic-focused travel abroad, mentorship by top faculty, and other benefits. Altogether, the package is worth more than $50,000--on top of the cash value of tuition, provided by the student's chosen university.

The newest Flinn Scholars and the Flinn Scholars Program have honored 17 Arizona educators for their outstanding dedication and service. Each educator was nominated by a member of the 2009 class of Flinn Scholars for having a significant impact on their education and development.

The Flinn Scholars Program will honor 23 graduating Scholars at the program's annual Recognition Dinner on May 17, celebrating the students' exceptional array of accomplishments during their undergraduate years and highlighting their diverse goals for the future.

On May 2, a select group of Flinn Scholars spent a day working in the Cornville art studio of internationally acclaimed sculptor John Waddell and his wife, painter Ruth Waddell. A visit to the Waddells' studio has been an annual highlight of the Flinn Scholars program for nearly all of the past 24 years.

It's no hyperbole to say that the classroom, for 1999 Flinn Scholar Jon Gandomi, has been the entire world. Now he is beginning a career in public service--service that is, again, oriented toward the entire world.