What will a scholarship do for me?

Editor’s note: This is part one of a three-part series on scholarships courtesy of the Greater Jefferson County Foundation.

The definition of a scholarship is:

“a grant or payment made to support a student's education, awarded on the basis of academic or other achievement…”

There are many scholarships available in the Jefferson County community to assist our local graduating seniors (and their parents!) financially through their freshman year of college. Some of these scholarships are renewable for all four years of college.

Many students are unaware of the scholarship potential here in Jefferson County. Some are also under the misguided impression that because they are not ‘A’ students, they have no hope of receiving a scholarship. This is definitely not the case.

Speaking only of the scholarships available from The Greater Jefferson County Foundation, there are many scholarships available to students who are not just ‘A’ students. The judging committees read each application carefully to determine which student will “give the best bang for the buck.” Of course, those scholarships who have a high GPA as their main criteria will naturally fall to those students with a high GPA, but there are many scholarships where a high GPA is not the main criteria.

Over the course of the next few weeks, we hope to educate our graduating seniors with regards to the awareness and potential of completing one of the 23 scholarships available from The Greater Jefferson County Foundation or the more than additional 50 available scholarships in Fairfield and Jefferson County.

To begin: there are several Medical/Nursing related scholarships for those students who want to pursue a career in Healthcare related studies: Champ, Medical, Roberts, and new this year, the Edd & Darlene Felgar scholarships that focus on students attending Indian Hills Community College to study in a healthcare related field.

There will be more information regarding the scholarship opportunities in the Fairfield/Jefferson County area in the weeks to come.