Is college not for you? Then maybe you’re considering entering a trade to become a carpenter, electrician, plumber, welder, mechanic, truck driver, mason, etc. If so, you may be interested to know that there are shortages of skilled workers in many trades. And, there are new opportunities for getting training and finding jobs right here in Lane County. Television station KEZI in Eugene has set up a program called “Skilled to Work” that highlights opportunities for job training and employment. The station broadcasts a series of short segments on Sunday evenings at 6:00 PM. To view previous segments that have been broadcast, go to kezi.com/features/skilled-to-work/. They are short and very informative.
If you have not yet received your free flash drive, courtesy of Western Lane Community Foundation, please stop by the ASPIRE office. The flash drive contains the new Siuslaw Regional Scholarship Application, a checklist of local scholarships, information and applications for scholarships that are not part of the common application, and other information useful all who are applying for college admission and scholarships.
The Siuslaw Regional Scholarship Application (the “common application”) will be due on or before Friday, March 13, but please don’t wait until the last minute. This application will go to many local scholarship organizations, so it should represent your very best effort. Right now, you can be writing the essays, asking teachers for letters of recommendation, and getting the highest grades possible this semester. You can also add to your volunteer experiences, which will be very important to some scholarship organizations.
If you have not already done so, you should work with your ASPIRE volunteer to create your resume and activity chart. These will be needed for scholarship applications. It will be helpful to create both on the CIS website; see ASPIRE for details.
Applications are now being accepted by Lane Community College for the Fall 2020 term. You may work on it with your ASPIRE mentor, or go to https://www.lanecc.edu/admissions/steps-enroll. If you are planning to attend LCC, you may wish to pick up the step-by-step application and enrollment instructions from the ASPIRE office. You will need to fill out a separate application for LCC scholarships, and that application period will open in January.
We have converted the whiteboard outside the ASPIRE office to a bulletin board, which will be updated regularly with new information about college programs, scholarships, job training opportunities, and more.
October 31 is the deadline for the VFW Voice of Democracy essay contest. See ASPIRE for details.
If you are applying ‘early action’ to OSU or the U of O, applications are due on or before November 1st. The regular application deadline is January 15th for the University of Oregon and February 1st for OSU.
If you are admitted to the University of Oregon, you have a GPA of at least 4.0, and you are eligible for a Pell Grant (through FAFSA), you will be granted PathwayOregon status, which guarantees that your tuition and fees will be covered through a combination of grants and scholarships. You will also get extra academic and personal support.
Be sure to check out the dual enrollment programs that allow you to take classes simultaneously at a 4-year university and a 2-year community college in Oregon. One such program is at Linn-Benton and OSU, but there are others. The advantage is that you still attend the university while taking some of your basic classes at the reduced tuition rate of the community college.
On November 1, the application period opens for OSAC scholarships. Any college senior may apply for one or more of the hundreds of regional and state scholarships listed with OSAC. We particularly encourage SHS students with strong academic records to apply for a Ford Family Foundation scholarship through OSAC.
November 1 is also the beginning of the application period for Oregon Promise. All students who plan to attend an Oregon community college should apply.
November 5 is the deadline to apply for the Elks Most Valuable Student scholarship. Any high school senior may apply and judging will be based on grades, leadership, and financial need. The application is on your flash drive.
The application period is now open for the 2020 Rhody Court. The queen and king will each receive a scholarship of $1,000, and runners-up will receive scholarships of $750 each. Other members of the court will be awarded scholarships of $500 each. The Rhody Court application is on your flash drive and it is online at https://florencechamber.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Senior-app-2020.pdf. Applications will be accepted until December 6.
The sooner you complete your FAFSA, the sooner you will know whether you will be eligible for a Pell Grant from the federal government. That information can help to determine how much you will need from other sources in order to attend college, and it will help us to make a plan, so please get your FAFSA application completed soon. Help is available from ASPIRE.
The first quarter will end on November 7. If you have fallen behind in any of our classes, now is the time to get caught up. Your first semester GPA may be important for getting admitted to the college of your choice, and for receiving scholarships.