Tennessee Treasury’s TNStars 529 College Savings Program awards $10,000 in scholarships to 11 Tennessee children

NASHVILLE – State Treasurer David H. Lillard, Jr. is pleased to recognize 5-year-old Grace Head as the winner of the $5,000 Grand Prize in the 2023 TNStars Holiday Scholarship Giveaway. Her mother, Anne Head, of Robertson County, entered the contest on behalf of Grace.

During the month of December, the TNStars College Savings 529 Program promoted a scholarship giveaway contest, encouraging Tennessee families to enter their children to win one of ten $500 weekly prizes and a $5,000 grand prize. The winners were randomly drawn among 4,093 entrants across the state.

Ten Tennessee children were selected as weekly winners in December leading up to the grand prize drawn on Jan. 2. Each of the following children will receive a $500 scholarship and were announced on the TNStars Facebook page:

• Garrison Jones, 1, Sumner County
• Channing Taylor, 10, Shelby County
• Amelia Edwards, 1, Shelby County
• Emersyn Haltaufderheide, 4, Knox County
• Leigh Curtis, 4, Sumner County
• Eleanor Pouliot, 6, Williamson County
• Leland Jenks, 8, Maury County
• Tshain Deyro, infant, Madison County
• Matilda Swartzfager, 1, Montgomery County
• C.J. Hagerman, 7, Davidson County

"Research shows that children with a dedicated college fund are up to seven times more likely to attend college," Treasurer Lillard said. “We hope these scholarships will help each of our winners attend the college of their choice and achieve their hopes and dreams.”

All prizes will be deposited into a TNStars scholarship account. These funds can be used for the winning beneficiary’s future higher education expenses, ranging from tuition and housing to books, computers, and more.

Anne and Grace Head live in Adams, where they’re represented by Tennessee Senator Kerry Roberts and Representative Sabi “Doc” Kumar, both of Springfield.

The TNStars College Savings 529 Program was created to encourage Tennessee families to save and invest for the future cost of higher education in a tax-advantaged way. TNStars offers high-quality investment options at a low cost to help families put aside money for higher education expenses. Tennesseans can invest directly with the program and funds can be withdrawn tax-free from a TNStars account as long as it is used for qualified higher education expenses. Families can open an account with as little as $25 to start. For more information, visit TNStars.com.

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