Post-High School Education: Your Best Personal Economic Stimulus Plan

Middle school and High School are the preparation grounds for your future. But what happens after you receive your diploma? Graduating from high school signals the end of your childhood and the beginning of your adult life. This means the start of your journey to independence, bills and responsibilities. Most adults don’t expect you to leave home and be self-sufficient immediately; but you do need to be ready to accept the challenge. It’s never too early to prepare for post-graduation (or too late).

A post-high school education is your best plan for securing a stable future for yourself (Vo-Tech, Community college or university). For those of you interested in a career in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math (STEM), a college education will be order. However, funding a college education is no simple matter. Getting accepted in the school of your dreams is not the end of the story. Financing your education takes planning – the sooner the better. When parents ask me about how to fund their children’s college education I tell them to start right now, even as early as middle school.

The Federal Financial Aid form (FAFSA) is a perfect place to start, but with the cost of education rising faster than inflation and the cost of living, Pell Grants and Students Loans will not be enough. Apply for competitive scholarships throughout middle and high school. If you’re in college, apply for additional scholarships as well as internship and mentoring programs.

Here are some announcements:

1. The Society of Wetland Scientists Diversity Program Undergraduate Mentoring Awards

This professional science society offers full travel awards to undergraduate students to attend its annual meeting. The 2010 meeting will be held June 27 – July 2, 2010 meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Thanks to generous funding by the NSF, undergraduate students from underrepresented groups can receive wetland sciences career mentoring for at the annual meeting. Students must complete an application. In order to maximize the opportunity for interested students to apply, the deadline has been extended to January 30. Visit the website for details and the application.

Students from the 2009 SWS Conference. (This could be you!)

2. The 2010 Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship

Dr. Anita Borg (1949-2003) devoted her life to revolutionizing the way we think about technology and dismantling the barriers that keep women and minorities from entering the computing and technology fields.

Google is proud to announce the 2010 Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship, awarding a group of female students each a scholarship for the 2010-2011academic year. All finalists and scholarship recipients will also be invited to attend a 3-day Scholars' Retreat at the Googleplex in 2010. The Google Anita Borg Scholarship program is available to undergraduate or graduate female students studying computer science (or closely related field) at a university in Africa, Australia, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand and the United States. The candidate must have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 on a 4.0 scale or 4.5 on a 5.0 scale or equivalent. Deadline to apply is February 1, 2010. For complete details for this and more scholarships for diverse students, please visit Google Scholarships
h/t Blacks Gone Geek

Additional Scholarships and Fellowships in various disciplines can be found at these sites.

a. The Multicultural Advantage - lists of scholarships and fellowships with upcoming deadlines.

b. Planning and Preparing for College – updates of Scholarships, Internships, and the college application process.

Comments (2)

Ken Poland

Danielle
"Graduating from high school signals the end of your childhood and the beginning of your adult life."

I agree with you up to that point.

But, "This means the start of your journey to independence, bills and responsibilities." ?? I have to question your timing for the preparation to become that adult and responsible person.

In order to take advantage of the scholarships and grants that you list, our young people need to be prepared upon graduation from HS. Failure to apply themselves academically in HS puts them dollars and years behind in being able to determine their own future.

Posted by Ken Poland | December 14, 2009 9:34 AM

Posted on December 14, 2009 09:34

Pamela Jean

Ken, thank you for your comment. And (soon to be Dr.) Danielle, thank you for offering such good advice to aspiring scientists.

Ken, it sounds like you have observed some high school students that were not applying themselves well enough in high school?

When I graduated from high school it did indeed mark a huge transition for me toward independence, bills and responsibilities in a way that was very different from high school. I was employed during high school but only part-time. When I graduated from HS, I went from part-time to working full time and then, simultaneously working my way through college. Life became harder almost over night!

I guess it's even more demanding now for high school students in many ways, more demanding than it was when I was in high school. It's harder now to get into college.

Thanks to both of you for caring enough to help steer young people in the right direction!

Posted by Pamela Jean | December 14, 2009 1:20 PM

Posted on December 14, 2009 13:20

Post your own comment

Name:

Email Address:

Remember personal info?

(To create links here or for style, you may wish to use HTML tags in your comments) We want to know what you think. Feel free to share whatever you'd like to:

Menu

Shortcuts

Frequent Contributors