Scholarships awarded in St. Regis
ST. REGIS – A majority of the graduating seniors from one local high school will, hopefully, find themselves graduating from their college of choice with significantly less debt than the average college graduate after they qualified for substantial scholarships last week.
According to information on the website for the Institute for College Access and Success, the average student graduates college with just over $28,000 of debt. For several students in St. Regis, they will not have this problem. The Institute for College Access and Success is an organization that, among other efforts, works to increase the understanding of the public about rising student debt and the effects debt can have on students and their families, the economy and society.
Through the Gear Up Pathways program, ten graduating seniors from the St. Regis High School will receive $23,000 a piece toward their continued education. According to St. Regis High School Guidance Counselor Sarah Etter, ten percent of the available funds statewide went to students in St. Regis.
Etter said there were a variety of qualifications the school and the students had to meet in order to qualify for the financial aid as apparently, Gear Up Pathways doesn’t give financial aid away to just anyone. Students in St. Regis had to earn the awards.
“Gear Up is a grant we apply for every year,” Etter said. “It helps prepare our students for college. We take our students on field trips to different colleges and universities. This helps them (students) recover the costs of fees from testing like the ACTs. This helps our kids develop better scores and prepares them for college level coursework.”
Etter said the student’s eligibility criteria included completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), achieving a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 2.5, be on track to complete a college preparatory curriculum and complete a senior project. Examples of senior projects included one senior who made a video of her experience as an athlete at the St. Regis High School as a recruiting and promotional tool.
Another student developed their project through the school radio station. Others wrote essays. Another worked with Special Olympics in conjunction with her participation with Business Professionals of America. One student even put his woodworking skills to use spending hours in the school shop crafting original work.
Etter said she and another teacher, Brandon Braaten, helped the students ensure they met the requirements to be eligible. She said while she and Braaten were there to provide guidance, it was up to the students to decide if they were willing to put the work in to qualify for such a substantial scholarship.
“It was really up to them to take the lead to make sure their projects got done,” Etter said. “We just provided the class time. They were all so busy that sometimes they didn’t have a lot of time. We are really proud of them.”