Scholarship Final Draft

With graduation coming in three short months, most Eastview High School seniors have already chosen a path to follow beyond the halls of Eastview. Seniors not just at Eastview, but also everywhere around the country are struggling to find ways to make ends meet and pay for college. College tuition is not getting any lower and the state of the United States economy is very slowly improving. Seniors everywhere look for relief, and many will find it this spring in scholarships.

Many Eastview seniors have just begun the application processes like Kayla Hestness, who says she has applied for only one scholarship so far. Her only scholarship was through her father’s work. This past week however, the senior class was presented with more information on how they might be able to buy their way onto college campuses. The Eastview Community Foundation opened up their scholarships this week. Eastview Counselor Anne Scholen examined the process, “It varies from scholarship to scholarship. The Eastview Community Foundation and the Eastview High School scholarships will be on the Eastview website and there will be an application you can follow. For the first time this year it’s one application, instead of two, so you only have to apply for one to qualify for everyone, which is nice.” However, what might be new though to many is the Eastview Community Foundation. “The Eastview Community Foundation is a group of volunteers who raise money to give back to the schools. One of our main focuses is raising money for the senior class, and give back the money in scholarships,” explained Scholarship chairperson Micki Mathiesen. For those looking for some financial help going towards expenses next year, applying for these scholarships could give you some much needed aid. Between scholarships that Eastview High School gives out and the scholarships the Eastview Community Foundation gives out, there are around 100 scholarships and tens of thousands of dollars going to just the Eastview seniors. Mathiesen stated how each recipient of the scholarships are chosen, “Each scholarship has their own criteria, but many of them include GPA, school activities, community involvement, an essay, and there may be financial aid requirements.” The Community Foundation attempts to reward as many seniors as possible, and in doing so they try to limit the number of scholarships received to one per person. The chances of being rewarded are very high however, “Last year there was 130 applications out of around 550 seniors who applied, so there is a pretty good chance of winning,” claimed Mathiesen.

Above local scholarships, others have found themselves applying to scholarships that are judged on the national level. Popular websites, including FastWeb and SallyMay, have caught the attention of some seniors. The controversy over these websites however, is how credible they truly are. Counselor Anne Scholen says, “FastWeb and SallyMay are credible, but you have to put up with lots of ads.” Among the confusing layout of the website, is who you are applying against. These scholarships are on the national level, so seniors from all around the country will be applying, with only one or two winning.

Whether it’s the local scholarships, or the nation wide scholarships, they have one thing in common, the stress of being completed on time. “Scholarships always abide by deadlines, and if you don’t get done by the deadline there is no grace period, so make sure to do everything the scholarship application tells you to do,” explained Scholen. The burden of filling out surveys, writing essays, and receiving teacher recommendations is worth the time and effort however. The benefits of receiving scholarship money for college will become apparent in four years when the seniors will have to begin paying off student loans. Above all, with a little patience, the process isn’t too hard according to Hestness, “It’s not a grueling process at all, it doesn’t take you long at all to fill out a scholarship, it’s easy.”