State Employees' Credit Union (SECU) members have once again made North Carolina students a priority through the renewal of the "People Helping People" SECU Foundation high school and community college scholarship programs.

These programs represent an annual commitment of more than $4 million, with a collective total of $32 million since the initial scholarship funding was approved in 2004, according to a news release.

The high school program provides a $10,000 four-year college scholarship to a graduating senior from each of North Carolina's traditional public high schools, as well as two charter high schools.

The scholarship is awarded for study at one of the 16 constituent campuses in the University of North Carolina system.

The community college program provides two $5,000 scholarships to each of the 58 North Carolina community colleges.

Recipients for both scholarship programs are selected by the individual school scholarship committees. Selections are based on a student's embodiment of the credit union's "People Helping People" philosophy demonstrated through leadership, excellence of character, integrity and community involvement, along with an overall grade point average of 2.5 or higher.

Haley Kuhn received a $5,000 community college scholarship to Central Piedmont Community College in 2009. Upon successful completion of her community college studies in 2011, she wrote a letter to SECU members.

"I wanted to take the time to say thank you," she wrote. "It is because of your generosity that I was able to obtain an Associate of Arts degree. I plan to continue my education career at the University of North Carolina Charlotte by obtaining a degree in special education.

"My dreams will be fulfilled when I begin teaching handicapped children. I just wanted you to know that the scholarship was truly appreciated and that my future is helping people."

SECU is a nonprofit financial cooperative owned by its more than 1.7 million members. It provides services through 239 branch offices, 1,100 ATMs and a website, www.ncsecu.org.

The SECU Foundation, a tax-exempt charitable organization funded solely by the contributions of SECU members, promotes local community development in North Carolina primarily through high impact projects in the areas of education, health and human services.