On May 24, the seniors of Highlands High School will attend their last classes, and 4 days later on May 28 they will take the walk and become Highlands alumni. Some seniors are choosing to go to trade school or follow their dreams elsewhere, while some outstanding birds are receiving scholarships for colleges.
A scholarship isn’t what the media may lead you to believe, it’s not a free pass to go to whatever school you receive it from.
Counselor Laura Schnitzler said: “A scholarship is money that you earn for college or whatever program you choose to do after high school. It is money that does not need to paid back.”
Scoir is the tool Highlands uses for assisting students in finding scholarships. Schnitzler said: “We assist students with scholarships by providing a scholarship listing in Scoir. Students can look at the list to find scholarships for which they qualify. – There is the scholarship listing on Scoir as well as other search engines like FastWeb. Students can also just search for scholarships. For example, if you are of a certain ethnic group, you can search for that through a Google search. If you have a particular talent or interest, you can search for scholarships that pertain to you.”
Scholarships aren’t as often sent from schools wanting a student to go there, while that can happen, usually it’s the student reaching out and searching for scholarships.
Schnitzler said: “We make it very easy to find scholarships. With the listing on Scoir, we list every scholarship that is presented to us.”
Senior Francis Eckerle said: “All of my scholarships had essays to respond to, and a few had recommendation letters from teachers. So I had to plan ahead and brainstorm what to write for each essay, as well as getting a letter of recommendation from my teacher a few weeks before the deadline.”
Eckerle is applying for the Michelle Chalk Scholarship, the Priscilla Lynn Ellison Scholarship, and the Fly Higher Scholarship, all with varying amounts of money awarded.
There are many different scholarships available for many different things. These things could range from grades to music taste or even appearance.
There is a scholarship called the Scheigert Scholarship which is for people with impaired vision. The requirements include: A copy of your transcript, a letter of acceptance from your school, two letters of recommendation and a verification of low eyesight.