Andres Huenneke
Staff Writer
The Scholarship Fund is in full swing, and deadlines have been set for many of the main parts of the scholarship. For many students, this scholarship is an accessible way to receive aid for college. Here are some of the frequently asked questions and important information that you need to know to submit your application from Director of Scholarship Programming Alyssa Samuel of the Scholarship Fund of Alexandria Scholarship Office.
Q: What is the scholarship fund?
A: The Scholarship Fund of Alexandria is a really unique partnership between the city of Alexandria and the school. We are an organization that provides funding for students looking to go to college. In this past year alone we have given away over a million dollars in funding for students to go to college or for their post-secondary plan.
Q: What types of scholarships are offered?
A: There are some scholarships that are funded by donors and it might be like the Band Booster funds a scholarship for a student that participated in band. There is a scholarship for students that are interested in humanities, we have scholarships that apply to a lot of criteria so it really depends, there are some that are donor funded with specific criteria, and there are scholarships for almost everything that you can think of.
Q: What is the process of applying for the scholarship?
A: For our scholarship, we ask that students are able to complete the FAFSA, we ask that they provide a portion of their FAFSA called the student report, we ask that they provide that but we also have options for students who are not able to complete the FAFSA. We also ask that they provide a resume and because when readers complete the application they have people who are reading and scoring the application so we ask that students remain anonymous when completing their resume because we want to be a blind process to reduce AIS.
We also have two essays that we ask students to provide. One is purposely similar to the essays that they might submit to CommonApp just so students don’t have to reinvent the wheel. In the one, we ask students to provide what their plans are for the fall 2023 semester and how the scholarship would help them achieve their plans. Those are the main things the students have to do to prepare for the application. The application includes questions such as what extracurriculars they have done, if the student has worked then they ask what their experience has been like, if the student has not been able to participate in activities due to family situations or other reasons then we ask them how they help their family.
Q: When is the deadline for applying
A: Jan 31, 2023
Q: What are some upcoming events that we can go to receive aid?
A: January 11 and January 18 we are hosting a tips and tricks session during all three lunch sessions. There is also an “Application Station” every Wednesday after school in the CCC in which you can receive help in completing your essays and receiving help with your application.
Photo by Andres Huenneke for Theogony
