With college on the horizon for many seniors, now is the perfect time to explore scholarships. Scholarships are a great way to earn some extra money to help pay for college, and the application process isn’t limited to those with a fantastic GPA or the superstar athletes of the school.
“Students should never worry that their grades are too low, or shy away from applying for scholarships based on participation of various activities, etc., because donors have a variety of criteria, and a GPA is not necessarily top priority,” said BHS Counseling Center Clerk Laura Rolfness, who oversees the school’s scholarship bulletin. She explained that requirements vary, but typically, you just need to include some information about your financial situation, a letter of recommendation, and proof of your GPA.
For some scholarships, you will need to write an essay. Best advice? Write with emotion and feeling. Write from your heart, not necessarily what you think is going to please the donor offering the scholarship.
“Think of it in terms of passion,” said Rolfness. “When we feel very passionate about something in life the words just flow very easily and our true nature comes through and to me that’s a winning attitude.”
Looking for scholarships doesn’t need to wait til your senior year, either. Math Teacher Judy Dwyer, who has read scholarship applications for many years on behalf of the DATA Scholarship program, suggests that students start thinking early about the process.
“I encourage Juniors to start looking at the scholarship bulletin to see which scholarships they would be a good fit for,” said Dwyer.
While scholarships can offer great financial aid and opportunities for students, many students don’t even know where to begin. Thankfully, Burroughs has a physical scholarship bulletin board that lists various scholarships for students to apply to. It can be accessed inside of Rolfness’s room, found inside of the front office. Additionally, there is also an online version of the board that can be accessed at any time. Both the physical and online versions of the board are updated as soon as new scholarships come in. The online version of the board is located on the school website at burroughs.ssusd.org.
From the home page, hover over the “Counseling” section from the menu at the top of the screen, and go to the “Scholarship Announcements” page from the dropdown menu. From there, you’ll be greeted with a link to the online version of the scholarship bulletin.
“I believe the board helped me figure out what scholarships to apply for,” remarked senior Daisy Martinez. “It helped me get a head start on the requirements that were needed.”
If you have any questions about scholarships or the scholarship board, don’t hesitate to reach out to your counselor. There are countless amounts of resources, people, and money waiting to help you on your journey to college, you just have to reach out and use them!
