Winning Scholarships

3-October-2019
   On Monday-30-September the Bogota Public library hosted a workshop on how Students can apply for scholarships to help pay for college. This was presented by Jean O'Toole from Connections 101. This is a company that assists Students to learn a successful program to qualify for outside scholarships. Ms. O'Toole started with explaining what an "outside scholarship" is. This is scholarship that is not given out by educational institutions, or aid from Federal or State Governments.  An outside scholarship is a grant from Companies, Organizations, Individuals and Foundations and does not consider any other scholarships, loans, or  grants a Student may already have. These outside scholarship have many different types criteria of who may be eligible to apply.  Ms. O'Toole listed a number of common  misconception people have when they think about apply for scholarships. The main one is that someone must be a High School Senior in order to apply.  She said any Student, as young as in Kindergarten can apply for certain scholarships. Another is that only Academics or Athletics scholarship are available.  Ms. O'Toole talked about  the fact that there is a variety of companies offering scholarships based on their business. She urged the Students in attendance should make a list of what their interests are, and who they are. They should start with any groups or clubs they take part in. Then expand that to include more personal items these can be, but not only, if they have pets, if they are tall, do they recycle at home, and if they play video game. There is even a  scholarship on " How to survive a Zombie Apocalypse",  with this one has a due day of 31-October in order to apply. When Ms.O'Toole mention this one she added that not all scholarships have the same enrollment date.  Due days occur throughout the year, so  a Student need to make a list who has scholarships within their interests and when they are due. Finally She talked about find out what scholarship the school they are enrolled in, and if there are other local scholarship available.  She ended by saying that if the application process is easy, more Student will apply for those. The less people that have applied for a certain scholarships the odds on being award that one increase. Her example was in the Country with over 6 Million Students there was a nationwide search which had 20 scholarships to award. Just 50 Students applied, meaning  those that did apply had about a 40% chance of winning. 
   For more information about how to look for and how to apply for outside scholarships please visit her company's website at: www.connections101.com   

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