Not Your Average Bear Foundation announced that applications are now open for its annual Randy King Memorial Scholarship program, awarding $5,000 each to 10 college-bound high school seniors whose families have been impacted by cancer. Now in its third year, the program will once again distribute a total of $50,000 in scholarships, providing critical financial support to students pursuing higher education while navigating the challenges of a cancer diagnosis personally or within their family. To date, the program has awarded $100,000 in scholarships.
Applicants for the Randy King Memorial Scholarship program must be college-bound high
school seniors and residents of Williamson County. Applicants will be required to write an essay detailing how a personal cancer diagnosis or one within their family has affected them. In addition, they will need to submit one letter of recommendation.
Additional details may be found on the nonprofit’s website, as well as on the online application platform for the Randy King Memorial Scholarship program The deadline to apply is March 30, 2026. Scholarship recipients will be announced May 1, 2026.
“It’s easy to underestimate the financial impact cancer can have on a family,” says Colleen King, who founded Not Your Average Bear Foundation in memory of her late husband, Randy King.
“When Randy was sick, we found ourselves having difficult conversations no family expects—including how we would afford to send our kids to college. When a family is facing a cancer diagnosis, that is the last thing they should have to worry about. Our mission is to help ease that financial burden for families here in our own community.”
In 2025, Not Your Average Bear Foundation awarded 10 Williamson County residents $5,000 each. The scholarship recipients included Anna Oldham, Hanna Hyche, Madison Jenkins, Audrey Gates, Seth Dick, Ayvah Stevenson, Avah Mortimer, Ryan Marshall, Jessica Crockett, and Robert Grove.
The collegiate scholarships awarded by Not Your Average Bear Foundation, a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit, volunteer-operated organization, are funded solely through private tax-deductible donations. Donations may be made directly at notyouraveragebear.org. One hundred percent of all donations benefit collegiate scholarships to be awarded to local students whose families have been impacted by cancer.
About Not Your Average Bear Foundation:
Not Your Average Bear Foundation was founded in memory of Randy King who passed away in September 2022 after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. During his fight, Randy, his wife Colleen, and their two children, Kyle and Korie, experienced firsthand the devastating effects of cancer–physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and financially. The family was blown away by the support they received when they needed it most from friends, family, co-workers, teammates, and schoolmates near and far.
Eager to give back to the community they’ve called home for over 15 years, Colleen founded Not Your Average Bear Foundation as a way to fund collegiate scholarships to be awarded annually to students in Williamson County whose family has been impacted by cancer.
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