Satellite Beach Balda Family Foundation Contributes to Florida Tech Scholarship Program

MELBOURNE, FLA—The Balda Family Foundation of Satellite Beach, Fla., has made a grant of $7,000 to the Florida Institute of Technology. The grant will fund scholarship assistance to Brevard County students in the College of Engineering in support of the Balda Family Scholars program.

This is the fifth consecutive year that the foundation has enabled Florida Tech to offer this much-needed scholarship assistance to students with financial need. During this time the Balda Family Foundation has contributed $64,500 to educate Florida Tech students who live in the Brevard area.

The Balda Family Foundation’s mission is to motivate, inspire and educate academically promising, at-risk and underserved youth in Brevard County through educational opportunities and college scholarships. The foundation was established in 2007 by Ricardo A. Balda and his four adult children.

In 1955, at age 14, Balda emigrated to the United States from Ecuador with his parents and four siblings; he later went on to be the first in his family to receive a college degree. Florida Tech enrolls a number of students who are first-generation college students and sets them on a path for a career in the STEM fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Florida Tech has recently been lauded by Bloomberg Businessweek as “Best College for Return on Investment in Florida,” which is an important consideration for students who come from families with limited financial means.

The Balda family is personally aware of the positive impact a higher education can make. As a result, the family places a strong emphasis on academic excellence and understands the important role education plays in permanently lifting one out of financial hardship.