Falls Church resident Amy Grudier, a nursing student at Cedarville University, was awarded the National Italian American Foundation’s Lido Civic Club Matching Scholarship recently. Since NIAF’s inception 40 years ago, the scholarship program has grown from four scholarships of $250 each to dozens of annual scholarships ranging in value from $2,000 to $12,000, each in the Italian language and culture, medicine, engineering, business, law, music, and other specialized fields.

Last year, the average scholarship to students in the United States was worth more than $6,000. Scholarship applicants must be a National Italian American Foundation member or have a parent or guardian who is a member of the foundation. Applicants must be enrolled in or entering an accredited college or university in the United States in the fall of 2016. Students must be of Italian descent, with at least one ancestor who has emigrated from Italy.

Additionally, applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens. National Italian American Foundation scholarship recipients are selected based on academic merit and have an average GPA of 3.5 out of 4.0 to apply. For more information, visit niaf.org/scholarships.