By Jeff Gonzales and Cintia Lopez

American River College’s Career Center hosts many workshops and seminars to aid students throughout the semester. All the different types of seminars are held at various times and dates. A list of these can be found at the career center.

The scholarship seminars are hosted by Joslyn Gaines. She has been working at ARC for 12 years and has been doing the scholarship seminars for three.

“Scholarships are a wonderful way to fund your education,” said Gaines, “because you don’t have to pay them back.”

When walking in, students are given a short questionnaire that includes basic questions such as: what is your major, age, marital status, etc? It also asks about hobbies, clubs, unusual attributes, and identifiers, all of which can lead to potential scholarships.

As you fill out the questionnaire, Gaines introduces herself, talking about her time in college and comparing the costs of tuition when she was at ARC to the cost of tuition now.

Throughout the seminar Gaines urges the attendees to talk about their majors and personal experiences. She then ties those attributes with different scholarships. She has a very motivational way of speaking that keeps her audience engaged to get free money.

“You’ve gotta get in this game because this is invaluable,” said Gaines, “some students are just saving up their money so that they can use it when they transfer.”

The number of scholarships that are available is mind-boggling. There seems to be a scholarship for just about everything.

“There’s odd scholarships, like your first kiss,” Gaines said, “that’s odd. Maybe you hated it, maybe it was fascinating. That’s why you want to look at everything that’s out there.”

Gaines used to be on scholarship committees in the past and she decided to start helping students by sharing her experiences. Her knowledge and the resources available at the career center can help any student reach their educational dreams.