|
|
Scholarships for Delmarvans |
| By
Jackie Lanza Jennings |
January 2006 |
Click here to enlarge
James M. Bennett High School junior Monika Patel and her father, Bak, investigate a DEF display at a recent college information seminar. Photo by Jackie Lanza Jennings.
|
|
Monika Patel of Salisbury wants to be a pediatrician. The 16-year-old Bennett High School junior has the grades -- a 4.0 GPA with four Advanced Placement classes -- and the smarts -- a more-than-respectable 1800 out of 2400 on the SATs – to make it happen.
Now all she needs is the money.
“We probably won’t qualify (for federal aid),” says her father, Bak Patel. “So we’re looking around.”
Monika, her father, and other high school students on Delmarva may be surprised to hear that thousands of dollars in scholarship money earmarked for local kids go unclaimed each year. That’s one of the reasons the Delmarva Education Foundation (DEF) created the Financial Aid Clearinghouse – a searchable data base of nearly 900 scholarships available to Delmarva students.
“Obviously, most donors would like to have some competition for their scholarships, but a lot of them go unused,” says Dr. Donald Harting, a founding member of DEF and its executive director. (And coincidentally, a Harvard-trained pediatrician.) “What we do is get better use of the scholarships because they get better publicized.”
DEF, which bills itself as “a bridge connecting the business and education communities,” is a nonprofit organization created in 2000 to improve educational opportunities for the Lower Shore of Maryland; Sussex County, Delaware; and the Eastern Shore of Virginia. “Our mission is to be a resource for educators for problems that affect us regionally,” says Sharon Clark, a member of DEF’s executive committee. Harting chimes in, “This is a unique area. People in Laurel (Delaware) tend to think more like people in Salisbury than people in Wilmington. People in Berlin (Maryland) think more the way people in Salisbury do than people in Baltimore.” The group now works to find common goals among local schools that must take orders from state capitals in Annapolis, Dover, and Richmond. The Clearinghouse seemed like a natural fit. But getting started on a shoestring budget wasn’t easy.
The mission began in Harting’s den. “We started out…with a bunch of grandchildren clipping things out of the paper and setting up a file folder for each of the scholarships. Then we got more sophisticated and put them all on the computer. Then we got even more sophisticated and put that stuff on-line.”
Click on “Scholarships & Aid” on DEF’s Web site, enter some basic information about SAT scores, county of residence, and current high school, and the program will list all of the scholarships for which a student is eligible. Among them: $500 for a student involved in Junior Achievement, $2000 for a high school senior hoping to pursue a career in the food service industry, and $6000 for a local Girl Scout who completes that organization’s Gold Award.
DEF staff will also help parents and students navigate the scholarship labyrinth from their office at the Wicomico County Library, free of charge. “People can come in and get one-on-one help on the computers in the office,” says Clark. “There’s someone there Monday through Friday from 11 to 5 and Saturdays by appointment.” That resource is especially helpful for parents who may not be computer savvy. “The parents sometimes really like having someone to help them on the computer,” says office manager Linda Jagusiak. “They can ask questions and not worry if they push the wrong button. After a little while, most of them are comfortable enough to finish the search at home.”
Jagusiak also makes a point to ask if students have made an appointment with their guidance counselors. “They really are the best resources,” she says. Guidance counselors say they see the same problems with scholarship applications every year: missed deadlines, procrastination, bewilderment. “We’re getting better at getting the message out to students – it takes time to fill out the applications, and some students don’t always have the best sense of priorities,” says Tony Giddens, guidance counselor at Parkside High School in Salisbury. “I tell them, ‘If you don’t apply, you can’t win.’” DEF helps by listing a contact name and phone number for each scholarship, the application deadline, and any requirements needed to apply, such as an essay or financial aid paperwork.
“I think we’re pretty unique in the country for having a good, local data base,” says Harting. “Some of the more sophisticated college access programs do not have the local scholarships.”
Non-traditional students, students with disabilities, and senior citizens who wish to go back to school may also find help at the DEF Web site. “We’re a great resource for people who haven’t been to school in a few years, now want to go back, and have no guidance counselor to talk to,” adds Jagusiak. It’s part of DEF’s mission to promote education for all ages at all levels.
And while there’s no way to know for sure how many students the Clearinghouse has helped, Harting has a few good stories to tell. His favorite is of a woman who had to drop out of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore for financial reasons and used DEF to help find a way to go back. “She graduated and now has a good supervisory job at a bank” says Harting. “She came in the other day and gave us a $2,000 check as a donation. I thought that was neat.”
“Dr. Don (Harting) was the first person to sit me down and tell it like it is, in a caring way,” says LaChesha Bevel-Downing. “When the time came that I was able to show my appreciation to DEF, I was happy to write the check.”
‘Tis the season for scholarship applications; deadlines happen as early as January 31, 2006, and many of the scholarship committees require students to file a Free Application For Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. That should be done soon after the first of the year.
Monika, meanwhile, plans to leave high school a year early, with aspirations of starting in the University System of Maryland in the fall, the first step in a long educational journey toward a medical degree. Her father, who knows he also has a son to put through college in a few years, just grins. “I’ve always wanted her to be doctor.”
Harting offers this advice: “Get on the computer. It’s easy.”
Related links:
http://www.delmarvaed.org – Delmarva Education Foundation Web site
http://www.fafsa.ed.gov – Free Application for Federal Student Aid Web site. Students can print a FAFSA form or complete it on line. Often a FAFSA form must be submitted before a student qualifies for private scholarship money.
http://www.studentaid.ed.gov – Student Aid on the Web offers advice to all students looking for money for education. Offers a helpful timeline for high school juniors and seniors trying to coordinate college applications, financial aid and test scores.
Jackie Lanza Jennings writes from her basement in Salisbury MD while her two children are napping. A former television news anchor and health reporter, Jennings now enjoys the freedom of free-lance writing, covering topics as diverse as diabetes in dogs and scholarships for Delmarvans. She can be reached at ljennings1@comcast.net.
© University of Maryland Eastern Shore, 2006. All rights reserved.
|
Additional Photos
 |
Click here to enlarge
Dr. Donald Harting, Executive Director of DEF says, “We try to do things educators would like to do on a regional basis, if they could.” Photo courtesy “The Daily Times” of Salisbury. |
 |
Click here to enlarge
DEF office manager Linda Jagusiak updates the DEF scholarship Web site. Photo by Jackie Lanza Jennings. |
 |
Click here to enlarge
The DEF office, located on the reading floor of the Wicomico County Free Library in Salisbury, offers help for parents and students looking for scholarship money for college. Photo by Jackie Lanza Jennings. |
 |
Click here to enlarge
LaChesha Bevel-Downing, who now works as a retail account specialist with M&T Bank, came back to give a donation to DEF in gratitude for help she received when college seemed too expensive. Photo courtesy M&T Bank. |
Questions or comments regarding
this article should be
addressed to the editor:
Katherine Harting
Room 2133 Richard A. Henson Center
University of Maryland Eastern Shore
Princess Anne, MD 21853
Telephone: 410-651-6084
E-mail: kharting@umes.edu
 Read more articles
|