If you are planning on attending college and pursuing your dreams, this story is for you! Junior year and senior year of highschool is filled with lots of chaos, concerns and worries; scholarships play a big role in this. It is very important, especially as a junior or senior, to start preparing and applying for scholarships.
As most of us know, colleges require a crazy amount of money to attend. The cost of college is always increasing and becoming harder to afford each year. It is a principle to remember that scholarships are VERY important and are here to help you with the cost of college. The wonderful thing about scholarships is they are “free money” and you don’t have to pay the college back. It is super important that students are engaging and paying attention to these opportunities so they don’t miss them.
“I think that a good thing to prepare that students could be doing at any highschool level is keeping track of what you do. So keeping a running list, a note on your phone, a document on Google of the clubs that you’re in, organizations your in, the leadership you hold, that kind of thing because you’re going to need all that once you apply,” said Wheeling Park School Counselor, Ms. Mathieu. “This also may help you figure out what you qualify for, that’s something any student can do.”
Students do have a tendency to not take advantage of scholarship opportunities or wait until the last minute, which isn’t the best idea.
“I wish that students knew that there is money out there if you put the work in,” said Ms. Mathieu. “I think that it’s daunting, it’s overwhelming but we have a lot of scholarships sometimes that one or two people apply for or sometimes, none and the money is just sitting there. It does take work but it is worth it in the end.”
Ciera Faulstick is a senior at Wheeling Park High School. She applied and received the Underwood-Smith Scholarship from CFWV. This scholarship is for seniors who want to go into the education field, specifically elementary ed, special education and math or science.
“There’s actually three rounds of it. The first round was due sometime in December and then you got an email that you got into the second round sometime in February,” said Faulstick. “The third round you get another email and in that you basically have to record a video explaining why you want to be a teacher.”
This scholarship also helped Faulstick manage her finances.
“Specifically for this scholarship, it is through West Virginia so the only commitment you have is you have to work in West Virginia for 5 years after you graduate, but you get $10,000 a year,” said Faulstick. “You get a total of $40,000 which is amazing, I mean that really helps with anything. You can use home and board for that, books, tuition, literally anything involving college.”
Taylor Antigo is also a senior at Wheeling Park High School. He applied and received the Patrick Latos scholarship. This scholarship is specifically for those interested in orchestra.
“I applied for this scholarship because I had known that it helped students in the past and I felt like it could help me,” said Antigo.
Remember, if you ever need help with the application process, counselors are always here to help you.
“I also just remind people that they don’t have to do it alone,” said Ms. Mathieu. “Counselors do application help every single activity period on Fridays where most of us counselors are over there for 45 solid minutes and we’re willing to help you. If you want to sit down and just work on scholarships every Friday, it’s there.”
At Park, scholarships are usually targeted towards seniors and start in the Fall of senior year. The applications are due in February.
