The Cartersville Opera Company has donated an endowment to the Etowah Scholarship Foundation for annual $1,500 college scholarships targeting a student specializing in music and performing arts. The scholarship, the Jonalyn Bew Memorial Music Scholarship, is named after the late founder of the company.

"The [Cartersville Opera Company] dissolved as of last week, and we tried for years to find someone of [Bew's] caliber to take it over and we were unsuccessful so we had funds in the bank, we wanted to honor her in some fashion, so we decided to jointly pull the funds out in her honor," said company board member Charles J. Sidlow.

There also will be partial scholarships given through the endowment for the Grand Theatre's Summer Music Theatre Camps.

"As two of the original board members, we really felt like we needed to do something with a large sum of money," said board member Betty Jane Tilley.

Miller said scholarships for the foundation are sponsored by community leaders, organizations and individuals, and often are made "in the memory of" another individual.

"It's been an excellent year for us, our best year since I've been here," said Executive Director Paige Miller. "We'll be giving out $200,000 in scholarships this year ... and we're able to award the opportunity for more kids to go to school, which is all that we're doing here."

Scholarships also are tailored for the donor. For example, doctors and lawyers who donate scholarships do so for students looking to pursue those particular professions.

In June 2011, the foundation awarded about $180,000 in scholarships to more than 200 students across Bartow County. Since 1982, the foundation has helped more than 3,000 students attend college by awarding more than $3 million in scholarships.