The Arnold Tritt Scholarship Fund, a tribute to the Northeast Florida Builders Association’s executive director of 33 years, has received several sizeable donations.
“Arnold has been a humble mentor to so many people for so many years,” said board member Ken Kuester of Lumber Unlimited. “He is an ambassador for our industry and always does so much without any recognition or any desire for recognition.”
Kuester made the first contribution to the scholarship fund in the amount of $1,000.
His reason was personal.
“I firmly believe the name Arnold Tritt should forever be linked to the association, to the industry and to the up-and-coming builders who will benefit from this scholarship,” Kuester said.
The scholarship fund also received $9,110 from the proceeds of the NEFBA GridIron Gala earlier this month. Another donation of $625 from Joel Dantzler of the Dantzler Group brings the fund to $10,735.
Glenn R. Layton, Division Vice President of North Florida Builders/Woodside Communities of North Florida and student advisor to the University of North Florida-NEFBA Student Chapter, spoke on the UNF program it will support.
“As a 1984 graduate of the UNF construction program, I want to make sure that our organization is working closely with the future of our business,” Layton said. “And that future is here with the UNF construction program.”
Layton said his goal is to establish an ongoing scholarship that promotes a strong relationship between residential construction students and NEFBA.
“We want to make sure those students - some of the top students in the state - stay in our local area, and this scholarship will help make that goal a reality,” he said. “And, it is a personal statement that what Arnold Tritt has done for our industry is being reflected in the scholarship to the students.”