OK, remember the scholarship Elle had the interview for last week? She got it. They called this evening to tell her. So that's another $2000! (we learned of the $5000 renewable for four years on Saturday) We're dizzy over here...and so so so so grateful. Out of $27,000 we needed for her first year....we are down to needing only $5000! And we've got that covered. More amazingly...there are still a couple more scholarships to be decided that she has a good chance of getting. I'm just stunned. Elle said she applied for everything she could, hoping school this year won't cost us a cent. I thought it was sweet of her to dream big, you know? But now...wow...I'm just so stunned. But yeah, for anyone who wanted to know how the interview last Thursday turned out....She got it! Thank you so much for rooting for Elle's dream.:love:
Where God guides, He provides! That's awesome, what an awesome young lady, as well, with such ambition and fortitude!
Thanks again, ladies. We're just...awestruck...right now. We really didn't expect this. Elle's guidance counselor just sent her home with instructions for applying for another scholarship being offered by the local Rotary Club that is specifically for books and supplies ($1000). He thinks Elle has an excellent chance of getting this one, since they sponsored Elle to go to both the basic and advanced Rotary Youth Leadership Awards camps the past two summers. She knows many of the local Rotarians and has interviewed with them very successfully in the past. She's got a good shot at it, so she's going to give it a try. The paperwork on these scholarships is time consuming!...usually they want an official transcript, three letters of recommendation, a biography, a photo, and an essay about some topic of their choice. The letters of recommendation have to be sent by the teachers...so Elle has to bother her teachers constantly and give them plenty of warning ahead of due dates. Then she has to bother the counselor for yet another official transcript. But it's the writing that takes the real time. She's been known to spend a whole Saturday working on one scholarship application. But hey, it's not bad pay for a day's work if it all works out! One way I think Elle has a serious advantage as a homeschooler...is that she isn't shy at all about talking to her teachers. Even when it seems excessive and bothersome...lol...she just keeps at it, apologizes, and asks if she can do any favors in return. A couple of the teachers have actually taken her up on her offer! LOL. One had her scrubbing dirty lab equipment, and one had her making photo copies of handouts for the next day's lessons and fetching coffee while they wrote the letters! But you know what? If you ask a professional for their time, you should try to compensate for that somehow. It takes time to write a recommendation letter. If she can save the teacher the time it takes to write the letter by cleaning up the lab or making the photo copies and fetching coffee...that's a fair trade. Teacher gets to go home on time, Elle gets her letter. Has proven to be a great system for getting some very flattering recommendation letters
So the $5000 was kinda "automatic", and the $2000 was the result of the interview...? Well, good for her!
The $5000 is being coordinated through the LSA college at U of M, but it has a specific private donor. There was no interview, but she did a TON of writing for it.....and she will have to write a thank you letter to the donor every year, and attend a dinner and meet them this fall. I think she also has to do 40 hours of community service per year (which she already does) and keep her GPA over a 3.0. She didn't know it was renewable for four years, though! That was an amazing surprise And yup, the $2000 was the local scholarship she interviewed for last week.
