Five-point-seven-million dollars in scholarships were awarded at Escambia County High School’s Senior Class Day on May 18.

The scholarship feat comes a year after the class of 2017’s total of $4.3 million.

“First off, I was very pleased with last year at $4.3 million,” ECHS Principal Dennis Fuqua said. “I really thought that record would stand for quite some time. I was astonished that this year’s class beat it substantially at $5.7 million.”

Fuqua said this year’s mark is a testament of the hard work that ECHS Counselor Ashley Trawick, as well as the seniors, put in during the year.

The work toward getting the students to apply not only to college, but for the scholarships, begins during the summer.

Fuqua and Trawick meet and go through the schedule for the coming year. The schedule includes application and scholarship deadlines.

“We start at the very beginning of the year, and really early on when applying to schools,” Trawick said. “That’s the first step.”

Trawick said the deadlines are based on when there is a better chance to get money.

“I encourage them to apply to as many schools as they can, and then apply more,” she said.

Trawick said the application process lasts through the first semester. The second semester is more focused on any outside scholarships they can apply for.

Trawick said she was proud of how much that was awarded this year.

“I’ve always really had a superstition of counting throughout the year,” she said, adding that once she got the totals together, she knew then that the class did well.