Throughout 2024, the Carson Scholars Fund focused on growth – empowering minds, growing our community and cultivating success. As we reflect on this past year, we are pleased to share our progress in each area.

The 2024 scholarship season, following the theme of growth, honored 570 new and 936 recognized scholars. This marked our largest cohort to date of Carson Scholars and largest group of recognized scholars in our history. On average, these scholars completed 104 hours of community service each year and over 80% of them held a GPA of 4.0+. These scholars were celebrated at six regional award banquets across the country in front of their families, friends and educators.

Supporting our initiatives to grow our community and cultivate success, in 2024 the Carson Scholars Fund reinstated the CSF Hall of Fame. The cohort of five Carson Scholars 2024 Hall of Fame members are remarkable changemakers, advocates and champions of education.

Last year, CSF also launched the new Patterson HBCU Scholarship Program for Carson Scholars. In May, we awarded nine Carson Scholars who were attending a HBCU in the fall with an additional $5,000 renewable scholarship. 

We are so excited to see the difference these incredible students and leaders make in our world!

The Ben Carson Reading Project, approaching its 25^th anniversary in 2025, also focused on growth and community last year. In 2024, CSF opened 17 reading rooms expanding our community to 297 reading rooms dedicated to creating literacy-enriched environments for children to develop their reading skills. This included a new reading room that opened in Oregon expanding our reach to 24 states and Washington, DC.

As we look to 2025 with eagerness and ambition, we can’t help but be filled with gratitude for our exceptional leaders – Dr. and Mrs. Carson, dedicated board members, hardworking staff, generous volunteers, incredibly supportive donors, committed school partners and truly remarkable scholars who have helped make the Carson Scholars Fund a special community.