Young adults in the Stuart and surrounding area can travel to another part of the world without spending a dime thanks to a new program.

An anonymous couple donated $100,000 to the Stuart Library Foundation to award scholarships over the next 10 years to those aged 18-25 who wish to travel outside the U.S. Applicants don’t have to be students, and examples could include a farmer who wants to study agriculture in Brazil, or an artist wishing to visit the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Foundation Board Member Russ Wagner says the anonymous donors want young people to gain experiences outside their community, “They themselves have traveled to roughly 70 different countries, so that’s their interest is to create a scholarship program to enable young adults in the Stuart Library community. Which is not just Stuart, it’s Dexter, Menlo, Redfield, kind of the West Central Valley (School District) but we didn’t use that name because we assumed everybody would think it’s school-related which it truly is not. But it’s part of an effort to build the knowledge for these young people about the very global cultures, history, economics, societies, and different environments that are available for them throughout the world.”

The first phase of applications are due July 8th, and finalists will eventually give a presentation to the Board on why they should travel to their desired country. You can find a link to the application here.