Attending college can be a daunting task, and trying to manage funds and balance school can seem insurmountable for some students. Scholarships may seem distant and difficult, even impossible to obtain.
However, American River College is trying to make the process of finding and applying for scholarships easier.
On Sept. 26, ARC hosted its first Scholarship Seminar of the semester, future seminars will be held bi-monthly through Dec. 8. These seminars are designed to help students both find and apply for any and all scholarships for which they may be eligible.
Outreach Specialist Joslyn Gaines has worked at ARC for 16 years and is a former alumni. She has been hosting these seminars at ARC for the past ten years.
Gaines’ goal is to inform students about broad base scholarships.
“They’re based on your gender, they could be based on your ethnic background, your major, if you have a disability. There are numerous scholarships,” Gaines said. “At the seminar I also teach them how to start researching scholarships.”
When attending the seminar each student is given a sheet of paper. On one side of the paper there are 15 boxes of qualifiers to check; they’re designed to get students get them thinking of what sort of scholarships they may be eligible for.
On the other side is a guideline of questions – an essay blueprint, to help the student write the most impactful essay possible. Asking questions such as “ What do you want your legacy to be?” and “what have been your greatest triumphs and how did those make you feel?”
After a seminar Gaines encourages students to call her and set up an appointment to work with them on their essays and further their search.
“These questions are asked to gather depth, so students won’t just give baseline answers. The scholarship committee, they want you to write something that will resonate, ” Gaines said. “ So, that’s one of my goals, to get them to talk.”
