A Mother’s Advice Sparks Scholarship Success

Jessica’s story is the second in a series of national scholar profiles. Her story, along with those of other students who had scholarship success in high school, will be featured to challenge high school students to achieve their best and work towards becoming more competitive scholarship applicants.

Jessica (Class of 2010) Temple University

From a young age, Jessica learned to overcome adversity in her life. At age six, she began experiencing symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, a disease that causes chronic inflammation of her joints. In the eighth grade, her symptoms worsened, and during her first two years of high school, she missed many school days due to her medical condition. Around this time, Jessica’s mother said that her family couldn’t afford to fund her college education and that she had great potential to win scholarships. Jessica took her mother’s challenge to heart and worked hard in school, spending much of her time applying for scholarships. In her first two years of high school alone, she applied for close to 75 scholarships. She experienced much throughout her years in high school, including her parents’ divorce, working four jobs, and taking care of three siblings. Yet, her ambitious drive translated not only to her scholarship success but also her academic success-she graduated high school in only three years.

Competitive advantage starting with academics

Throughout her years in high school, Jessica took a challenging set of courses even in the midst of her outside obstacles. She enrolled in AP classes from science to Spanish. Seeking a well-rounded education, she sought to learn not just to write stories or simple essays, but to question and analyze texts. Her drive to make herself as competitive as possible for college and scholarships stems from her belief in “competitive advantage” which she describes as “making yourself as competitive as possible” for colleges and scholarships. She applied this mindset throughout high school and began thinking on a college level during her senior year. She advises high school seniors, “Don’t think that because it’s your senior year that you can slack off,” adding, “Don’t slack off your three years before either because that’s what colleges look at.”

Becoming known in her community

Even with her physical ailments and rigorous course load, Jessica remained heavily involved in her school and in her community. On a school level, she poured time and energy into Peer Teaching, where peers help peers with conflict resolution. Along with one of her teachers, Jessica led school wide training sessions through the program. Eventually, the program became a part of the curriculum and trained not only students but teachers and principals too.

In addition to her leadership roles in other activities like DECA, the NAACP, and ACT-SO Program (Academic Olympics where students compete in different subject areas), Jessica served on the Alaska Community Service Commission for three years, successfully working on reviewing grants for service learning projects. Through her association with the local NAACP, Jessica also coordinated the efforts to build a memorial for two kids who drowned in a creek. Having formerly babysat the two kids, Jessica helped raise $11,000 from the community to build three memorial bridges for them. She says her motivation for being so active in her community had three reasons: first, she hoped to motivate others to do something positive. Second, she says, “if I start something, hopefully someone would feel empowered to finish it.” Third, she just enjoyed the experience because it helped her grow.

Following her mother’s wise advice

With all of her experience in the community and her mother’s encouragement to apply for scholarships, Jessica had a strong profile for numerous awards. During her sophomore year, she began thinking ahead to college after seeing an advertisement for the PSAT. Soon, she began going to her high school career resource center. Jessica says that the resource teacher “opened doors for me” by introducing her to resources like Fastweb.com. Soon Jessica began searching on other scholarship websites as well. Through Google-searches, the College Board, and university websites, she made it a goal to apply for at least five scholarships per quarter, depending on deadlines and priorities. Ultimately, Jessica estimates that she won 35 scholarships valuing over $150,000 from over 100 opportunities.

She says that “what gives you an advantage over people is not really your GPA (meaning that grades aren’t everything). As a person, being able to bring diversity to your college [school or scholarship organization] since they look more at personality…students should really try to stand out.” For students that are afraid to tell their story, Jessica says, “They want you to just tell everything. They’re drawing a picture [of you] with what you give them. If you don’t have community service, then tell them why.” She says that her advice to students is to “take what you know and put a spin on it.” She doesn’t mean that students should be dishonest, but rather that they should honestly share their story in a way that speaks to the reader’s expectations.

Giving back and encouraging students

With her college education covered completely by scholarships, Jessica chose to attend Temple University in Philadelphia where she is majoring in Finance and Philosophy with a minor in Entrepreneurship. Her goal is to obtain her B.A. and J.D. and then open up her own non-profit organization that works with students and parents as a larger high school career resource center to prepare more for the future. She says, “We have to look at the long term more than the short term.”

In regards to scholarships, she says, “It is never too early to start. If you happen to see something you’re interested in, write it down and find the resources.” Her advice for students is to “really network and be known in your community,” adding, “Don’t be afraid to step out and try something new.”