![Seaside Engineering and Surveying partners Tim Bowden, center left, and Kent Stewart, center right, present Step Up For Students development officer Karen Cordy with a $35,000 check that will provide K-12 scholarships through the Step Up For Students Scholarship Program. A few administrators from Rocky Bayou Christian School, a Step Up participating school, as well as several students who benefit from the scholarship program, and their parents, join them. [Special to the News Bulletin]](http://127.0.0.1/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ghows-DA-6478d98a-739e-4200-e053-0100007fe591-8a647115.jpeg)
BAKER — Seaside Engineering and Surveying, LLC., a provider of professional surveying and civil engineering services, announced a $20,000 contribution to the Step Up For Students Scholarship Program for the 2017-18 school year, bringing their total contribution to $35,000 since 2016.
This marks the second year Seaside Engineering and Surveying has supported the scholarship program.
"Seaside Engineering and Surveying is proud to partner with Step Up For Students, and know that our contributions are helping local families send their children to schools that best fit their children’s learning needs," Seaside President John Gustin said during Friday’s presentation. "We’re excited to welcome Denise Bowers, Crestview Campus principal from Rocky Bayou Christian School, today. Rocky Bayou is a local private school that participates in the Step Up scholarship program."
Rocky Bayou Christian School is one of more than 1,700 private schools participating in the scholarship program statewide. Rocky Bayou has been listed as the fourth best private elementary school in the U.S. by TheBestSchools.org.
"At Rocky Bayou, we encourage our students to conduct every aspect of their life with integrity, honesty, humility and love, traits consistent with the team members of Seaside," said Bowers. "On behalf of Rocky Bayou Christian School, we’d like to thank Seaside Engineering and Surveying, as well as Step Up For Students, for their commitment to creating educational opportunities and for helping families in our community."
Step Up For Students is a nonprofit that administers the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program for financially disadvantaged Florida schoolchildren. The program is funded by corporations with tax-credited donations and allows parents and students to choose between a K-12 scholarship to support private school tuition and fees, or one that assists with transportation costs to out-of-county public schools.
"Thanks to the generosity of companies like Seaside Engineering and Surveying, more Florida families have the opportunity to choose schools befitting of their child’s learning needs," said Doug Tuthill, Step Up For Students president. "We are grateful to Seaside for their contribution, and to its employees’ efforts to improve the lives of people living in their communities."
For the 2017-18 school year, Step Up For Students is serving more than 100,000 students throughout Florida with tuition scholarships valued at up to $6,343 per student for kindergarten through fifth grade, $6,631 for sixth through eighth grade and $6,920 for ninth through 12th grade.
Step Up For Students is a nonprofit organization that helps manage the income-based Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program. Students who qualify for the national free or reduced-price lunch, or those who are homeless or in foster or out-of-home care, may qualify.
The scholarship provides tuition assistance to the private school of their parents’ choice or financial assistance to offset the transportation cost to an out-of-district public school. Since 2001, Step Up has awarded more than 680,000 scholarships.
Step Up also helps administer state-funded Gardiner Scholarship for Florida students with certain special needs. With the Gardiner Scholarship, recipients may use the funds for a variety of approved services including private tutoring, occupational therapy, instructional materials and other services.
For more information, visit www.StepUpForStudents.org.
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This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker business boosts scholarship program