THE
CHARLES B. STAATS
MEMORIAL FOUNDATION
MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of The Charles B. Staats Memorial Foundation is to inspire and empower high school seniors to become future leaders and active members of their community by serving as swim coaches to youth and adults in their communities.
Latest News
July 14, 2026
We are pleased to announce our 2026 scholarship winner, James Campbell, from Woodridge, Illinois. Once again, we received many outstanding applications for consideration. We wish Jim the very best as he begins his studies at Illinois Wesleyan University. Please check out more information about James under our Scholars section and see updates on our current scholarship recipients.
We will continue to use the ScholarsApp.com for application submittals for 2027. As a reminder, all attachments must be uploaded to the ScholarsApp.com website. No applications will be accepted by CBSMF.org directly, including recommendation letters. In 2026, 12 applications were rejected because of incomplete information. All incomplete applications will automatically be rejected and not considered for the scholarship. It is the applicant’s responsibility to be sure all information is submitted prior to the due date.
Our criteria for the scholarship for 2027 is now available on this website. Applications open on January 1, 2027 on Scholars App and will close on May 31, 2027 at 5 p.m. eastern. There is a link on our website to the scholarship application. This is a change in date. Also the notification date of the scholarship winner is July 25, 2027 (also a change in date beginning in 2027). This information will be available on the Scholars App website. Be sure you review the criteria BEFORE you apply for the scholarship.
The CBS Memorial Foundation was created to encourage and celebrate youth's leadership in community swim organizations. Charles B. Staats, "Coach Charlie," was the ultimate swim coach: motivating, patient, demanding, compassionate and dedicated to his swimmers. His enthusiasm for the sport was captivating. Throughout his coaching career, Charlie fostered his love of swimming in children and adults alike in our local community. He promoted the importance of continually striving for self
improvement, and he pushed values of hard work and persistence in the pursuit of achieving goals. For more information on the CBSMF scholarship, please click here.