Scholarship Fund Benefits Dalton Police, Fire

Tuesday, April 25th, 2023

For more than a decade, a scholarship endowment has gone to help the family of a Dalton police officer or firefighter (or the employees themselves) attend Dalton State College. The City of Dalton Public Safety Scholarship endowment was established in 2008 with the first scholarships awarded in 2011. Last week, two more scholarships were awarded from the endowment supporting the daughter of a Dalton officer and also a current officer who is pursuing a bachelor's degree. 

"It’s a wonderful thing to have available to our families. The line level firefighters and officers, a lot of times their kids don’t have large college funds built up just because of their fathers and mothers working in public safety. So this helps them pay for some of those costs of going to Dalton State which is a great school here locally," said Dalton Police Chief Cliff Cason. "It’s just wonderful to have that available to our kids."

Caption: Police Department Lt. Sam Eaton (left) poses with Fire Chief Todd Pangle after receiving one of the two City of Dalton Public Safety Scholarship Awards at Dalton State College

"It’s something we constantly remind our guys about, so it’s not lost and forgotten. Most of the time obviously it’s discussed at the beginning and the end of the school year, the time when scholarships are handed out," said Fire Department Chief Todd Pangle. "I think sometimes it gets lost in the shuffle in the guys’ minds when they’re the ones attending school they don’t think of it being a benefit for them as well. This year one of the scholarships that was given was to one of the PD officers, and I was glad to see it. I’m glad our guys are able to utilized that resource and better themselves."

Fundraising for the scholarship started in 2008 and included fundraising dinners at the old Dalton Depot Restaurant and also a golf tournament. The endowment reached the level of being self-sustaining and will remain in perpetuity with the Dalton State College Foundation, but fundraising continues to grow the scholarship and hopefully allow it to extend its reach. Currently, two scholarships are awarded per year. 

"It’s a great benefit. It's nice to be able to have extra money to be able to pay for some of your tuition and help get through to the finish line," said Dalton Police Lt. Sam Eaton who was awarded one of the scholarships this spring. "It's funny to kinda come full circle because I was a part of some of the first fundraisers for the scholarship, serving the dinners to people at the Dalton Depot and now it’s come back around, so it’s kinda come full circle."

Lt. Eaton did not apply specifically for the City of Dalton Public Safety Scholarship. Instead, he applied to the Dalton State College Foundation for scholarships and the school's staff made the decision to award him the scholarship based on the qualifications that were made when the scholarship was created. All decisions regarding scholarships award are made by the college's staff and not the City of Dalton. 

Donors wishing to support the City of Dalton Public Safety Scholarship at Dalton State may do so online at giving.daltonstate.edu or by contacting the Dalton State College Foundation at 706-272-4473.