The Better Business Bureau (BBB) Foundation serving Nebraska, South Dakota, The Kansas Plains and Southwest Iowa has announced that Amber Schmid, a senior at Thunder Ridge High School, Kensington, KS and Cooper Jace Clawson, a senior at Meade High School, Meade, KS have been named the 2013 Scott Mecham BBB Students of Integrity for the Kansas Plains area. They will each receive $2,000 scholarships.

BBB Student of Integrity Awards are presented annually to eight senior high school students for demonstrated ethical behavior and character: two from the Kansas Plains, two from metro Omaha/southwest Iowa, two from metro Lincoln/greater Nebraska and two from South Dakota – the geographic area served by the BBB.

Unlike many other scholarships, grades, financial need and ethnicity are not major factors in selecting a Student of Integrity. Their purpose is to award personal integrity and to nurture future ethical business leaders. Amber and Cooper won these prestigious awards because of their commitment to honesty and accountability inside and outside of the classroom, said BBB President and CEO Jim Hegarty.

An independent panel of judges, consisting of teachers, school administrators and guidance counselors selected these two Winners from a pool of approximately 70 applicants. Letters of recommendation, school and community activities and an essay that addressed an ethical dilemma were required for submission.

Hegarty stated, We hear all too often that there is an ethics crisis among our youth. That may be true for some, but there are also many that are doing wonderful things in their schools and in their communities, and this gives me great hope for the future. In fact, this year the BBB Foundation received over 400 applications from students all over our service area.

The scholarship Winners will be formally recognized at their schools Honor Assemblies, in the BBBs newsletter and on the BBBs website at bbb.org.