Jeanette Harris on wed 26 jul 06
>Phil said:
>
>IS 'interesting, of for me, tragically and
>sadly...
>
>Reminds me so much of "why" I hated school unto
>the verymost nucleus of every cell of my body...
Which makes me think about a scholarship situation I was involved in:
I've served on four scholarship boards, and very happily so, having
been the recipient of a couple, so I know how important it is to
someone to win one.
On two of them, I was a founding board member and worked on laying
out the selection perimeters for the decision process.
Phil's comments go right to a dilemma we faced on one board. We
received an application from a young guy who, in the general academic
picture was what you would consider to be a B student. But in one
area he was a near genius: Metalurgy Recommendation letter after
letter praised his uncanny understanding of metals, yet he didn't
really qualify under the usual guidelines for an academic
scholarship. Thank heavens I had written in a 'committee
discretionary award' caveat and we were able to help him get to the
technical college he needed to be in.
There should be more opportunities for people like him. The trouble
with most scholarships is they are based on grade point averages.
The kids who can ace tests, absorb data and get the grades can
usually wind up with scholarships. Boards receive an avalanche of
papers from them. It's hard to tell one from another. But the ones
with an incredible talent in one thing can find it hard going.
_________
Also, I always wrote into the requirements that applicants were to
write a one-pager describing their experience, if any; aspirations
and goals for study and a career. You can tell a lot about maturity
and how well they think/communicate in a short page -- it can be most
revealing. In two of the scholarships (art) we wanted pictures of
works and in one, we requested that the student keep in contact with
us, if they were so inclined, during the year so that we could keep
up with how they were doing--it wasn't a requirement. We got very
good feedback from several.
In one of the scholarship groups I also persuaded the board to
include a scholarship for a mature student too. I think there should
be more of those too. So many scholarships are aimed at students who
are fresh out of high school and ignore upper level students. Why
aren't there some for college juniors and seniors?
--
| |
|
