The East Hampton Town Trustees voted to increase the amount of the annual scholarship awarded an East Hampton High School senior from $1,500 to $3,000 this year, and while they plan to make that increase permanent, how to finance the additional $1,500 was a subject of discussion at their meeting on Monday.
Francis Bock, the trustees’ clerk, advised against withdrawing $3,000 from the fund from which the scholarship money is derived. “President Trump has been pressuring the [Federal Reserve] to lower interest rates,” he said. The fund now earns 3.5-percent interest, he said, and last year earned close to 4 percent, which he said is why it generated $4,200. “You will not make as much this year, and there’s a good possibility you will be making a lot less.”
To increase the scholarship, Mr. Bock said, the trustees should look to the annual Largest Clam Contest, which has grown in popularity. The trustees at present sell merchandise at the contest, proceeds of which benefit the Trustee Scholarship Fund, but instead of being “a big party” that is expensive to hold, the contest should benefit the community, it was suggested.
“You can raise more than $1,500,” the increase sought in the scholarship, at the Largest Clam Contest, “and keep the fund growing,” Mr. Bock said. Last year’s contest, according to David Cataletto, had been attended by some 500 people.
John Aldred recommended that for 2026 the trustees take $1,500 from their general fund to supplement the current $1,500 scholarship award, but only if the board and its education committee commit to develop and implement a fund-raising protocol to meet a $3,000 annual scholarship, and perhaps a higher total in years to come.
