Bayne Shaifer Awarded 2017 Kaire & Heffernan Community Scholarship

Volunteering has a variety of benefits. According to the Corporation for National and Community Services, in 2015, over 62.6 million people dedicated some of their time to volunteering with a total of 7.9 billion hours of service. Volunteering is known to help improve social and relationship skills, helps counteract the effects of anxiety and stress, and can even teach you valuable job skills.

Although many high school and college students are required to volunteer, it’s amazing to know that some of these students go out of their way to give back even more to their communities and to make the world a better place.

Kaire & Heffernan, LLC Gives Back

The annual Kaire & Heffernan Community Scholarship is awarded to one high school senior whose involvement in their community mirrors our values. Specifically, the student has a history of volunteering at non-profit organizations in their community. A check for $1,000 will be made payable to the student’s university for tuition and related expenses. As a bonus, we donate $500 to the winning student’s non-profit where they volunteered.

2017 Community Scholarship Winner

Our 2017 Kaire & Heffernan, LLC Community Scholarship Winner is Bayne Shaifer. Bayne graduated from Jupiter Community High School in May 2017. Her constant hard work at school resulted in a 3.4 cumulative GPA going into college. Bayne also received a multitude of honors including acceptance into the National Honors Society of Social Studies in grades 11 and 12 as well as becoming Sergeant (lead student) at her school’s Criminal Justice Academy (CJA)

Not only was Bayne focused on her schoolwork, she made time to intern with the Philadelphia Criminal Court Judge and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office. With her internship experience and leadership role at CJA, Bayne hopes to major in Criminal Justice or Pre-Law in college.

Proof that Young People Can Be Leaders

While still a high school student, Bayne Shaifer started a nonprofit with the help of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. According to Bayne, the Bayne Academy Foundation is a mentoring program for high school students that teaches them to create a project that excites them and will help them to serve their communities in a meaningful way. Bayne was the only high school student in America to be able to work on her project with the Wharton Nonprofit Consulting Group for free.

Why start a nonprofit at such a young age, you may ask? Bayne struggled with severe dyslexia her entire life. Even one of her middle school teachers told her and her parents she had a 50% chance of graduating high school. Nonetheless, Bayne pushed forward and became the captain of her school’s CJA–a specialized program which allows students to focus on an area of their interests.

Initially, Bayne created her foundation to help all students who want to apply for CJA afford the trips and added expenses. With an initial goal of raising $40,000, the Wharton Nonprofit Consulting Group found that the Bayne Academy Foundation could raise significantly more money than initially thought.  They now expect to raise $1 million and plan to replicate programs like CJA for inner-city schools throughout the country. Bayne’s goal is to “help thousands of students find a project, a passion that ultimately changes lives” just like hers did.

Bayne’s Continuous Service to the Community

Since Bayne was a freshman, she volunteered at various nonprofit organization and earned 422 community service hours. Throughout her four years of high school, she volunteered at all Southeast Florida Alzheimer’s Association walks and fundraisers, the National Parkinson Association for Parkinson patients, and CJA’s fundraisers. For three years, Bayne volunteered at Cheerleading Camps for Kids fundraisers, which taught 5-13 year olds how to cheer and tumble. For the last two years of her high school career, Bayne worked on her foundation with Wharton.

Bayne sets an outstanding example for what young people can accomplish. We wish her good luck at Stetson University and can’t wait to see the lives she will change in the future. Great work, Bayne!