Empowering seniors: scholarship encouragement

By: Kiara Jordan

Principal Dr. Matt Smith looks on as Seniors view their scholarship amounts.

VU Scholarships is a platform where high school seniors are matched with college scholarships before applying anywhere.

During PASS on January 17, Counselors and Administrators presented students with a QR code to see the amount of scholarships they received through the VU Scholarships program. Depending on the student they got a different range of scholarship money offers. The total amount accumulated from all the college offers to the sCHS eniors was $69,214,582 dollars. 

Once each student received their total dollar amount in scholarships, VU Scholarships will communicate with students if they are interested in tapping into that network. If so, VU Scholarships will present them with the scholarships they are eligible for and at what institutions, based on the student's GPA and ACT score. 

Senior, Julia Baxter has kept her options open and has been accepted into three different colleges already. Some of the college scholarships she had received through  VU Scholarships were in places like Oklahoma. Baxter felt happy because of the money she was being offered to help with her education.

VU reached out to CHS Principal, Dr. Matt Smith. Smith thought it was a worthwhile product so he talked to Career Advisor Mrs. Kasey Ellis about it and they agreed it was worth the investment. Dr. Smith stated, "Mrs. Ellis has done a tremendous amount of work to get this up and running.  Her work to set up and organize these accounts for students will make investigating post-secondary options very convenient, and an eye-opening experience.  Our goal is to make all our students aware of the full spectrum of options and opportunities they have access to in the pursuit of post-secondary education." 
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Cameryn Mckenny, another CHS senior, always wanted to continue her education after high school. McKenny has worked hard for what she has achieved in high school so far and to see it be rewarded is encouraging. Mckenny believed that these scholarships have opened a variety of opportunities for her. Mckenny stated “Each and every scholarship listed was an opportunity no matter if I move forward with the scholarship or not.”