Loss of U.Va. scholarship motivated Grassfield's Harrell

CHESAPEAKE

Two months ago, Seth Harrell was excited to announce his college commitment on Twitter.

"After talking with my family and coaches I've decided to commit to the University of Virginia," Harrell wrote.

But what should have been a memorable moment quickly turned disappointing when the Cavaliers pulled their offer.

Harrell, a Grassfield senior lineman, was devastated.

"He committed to Virginia, but they called and said they were no longer offering," Grassfield coach Martin Asprey said. "He was heartbroken. But I told him, 'For every door that closes, another will open up.' "

And it did for Harrell, who committed to Coastal Carolina this month.

Harrell, 6-foot-3 and 315 pounds, said this week it wasn't easy to recover from losing out on a chance to play at Virginia. It took a long talk with Asprey to get his mind right.

"He told me I could be sad about it or continue working and something will pay off for me," said Harrell, whose team – 3-0 and ranked ninth in South Hampton Roads – plays Friday at No. 6 Indian River (2-1).

Harrell, rated a three-star recruit and the No. 50 player in Virginia by 247Sports, chose the latter with a vengeance. He got into the weight room to get stronger. He also worked on drills to get quicker and faster.

"In practice, I'm going full speed and hitting the drills perfectly," he said. "I want to prove to the other schools that I am the real deal."

Asprey said he's seen a difference in Harrell.

"He's been working hard," Asprey said. "After what he went through, how can that not motivate you?"

Harrell said his mistake during the recruiting process was not going to showcases after his offer came from Virginia. And many schools backed off after his announcement.

"I'm proud that instead of getting sad about it and depressed, I just kept working and working," said Harrell, a track athlete who also plans to compete in the shot put in college. "Now here I am. I'm going to be at Coastal Carolina. That's what I'm really proud about."

Source: Loss of U.Va. scholarship motivated Grassfield's Harrell

Glitch in Govt Scholarship

The Prime Minister's 15-Point Programme for the welfare of minorities which was announced about a decade ago, provides a pre-matric scholarship scheme for meritorious students belonging to minority communities. The applications for the scholarship have to be submitted online on the National Scholarship Portal (NSP). However, in 2015-16 there was a major glitch in the website's form filling, causing difficulty for parents and students to renew their scholarships, revealed a reply to an RTI filed by Razaullah Khan, an activist from the NGO Movement for Peace and Justice.

As many as 7,17,896 students had applied for the renewal of scholarships, out of which forms of only 3,30,776 students were accepted. The other 3,87,120 students were denied a renewal because of the glitch in the website. Meanwhile, there was an option of submitting forms offline as well, which the students and their respective wards and teachers filled, but the hard copies of the forms sent to minority and adult education directorate in Pune, have not yet been registered, thereby being denied of the scholarship renewal, a letter from Razaullah Khan to the Education Minister Vinod Tawade revealed.

The scholarship aimed at pre-matric level, is to encourage the parents to send their children to schools, to reduce their expenditure on education and to educate children. The scholarship is pertinent to the students scoring more than 50% marks in the final examination and whose parents' or guardians' annual income is less than Rs. 1 lakh.

Source: Glitch in Govt Scholarship

Young artist nets $10,000 scholarship to continue work in Glen Innes

Glen Innes local Stephanie Brummell has been awarded a $10,000 Young Regional Artists Scholarship and will use the grant to advance her contemporary textile arts practice.

SCHOLARSHIP: Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall congratulating Glen Innes-based artist Stephanie Brummell during a recent local visit.

GLEN INNES local Stephanie Brummell has been awarded a $10,000 Young Regional Artists Scholarship and will use the grant to advance her contemporary textile arts practice.

The Arts NSW Regional Youth Scholarship program funds activities such as mentorships, internships, courses, training, national and international travel and creation of new work across all art forms to develop emerging artist's talent in regional NSW. 

Miss Brummell will use her scholarship to engage with textile mentors at metropolitan and regional organisations to help with research and documentation of textiles from local museums in the region. 

I will use the grant in a two pronged way, firstly research and then putting the research into action," she said.

"I want to develop a condensed online catalogue of my research findings and then I'll use that research to inspire a body of work that I'll exhibit in 2018."

Northern Tablelands MP Marshall was in Glen Innes recently to personally congratulate Ms Brummell on her selection and said he was delighted to see such a talented young local artist and administrator win the scholarship.

"Steph is a Communications Officer for Arts North West and has recently become involved with textile conservation at the Land of the Beardies History House Museum," Mr Marshall said.

"She applied for this scholarship in order to further development her skills in contemporary textile arts practice.

"I am proud of Steph and the work's she's doing in our region and pleased the government has created a program exclusively for country youth to develop their careers and connect with arts organisations and training opportunities.

"We are investing in the next generation of talent to grow their skills and expand their knowledge to take back to regional communities."

Dundee-based artist Ashley Hansell was one of 16 artists in the state to receive an inaugural $10,000 scholarship and she said it has already made a huge impact on her life and future plans.

Source: Young artist nets $10,000 scholarship to continue work in Glen Innes

Dozens of SRVUSD students named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists

When the list of program semifinalists was announced last week, 60 students from the San Ramon Valley Unified School District were recognized: 40 from Dougherty Valley High School, nine from California High, seven from Monte Vista High and four from San Ramon Valley High.

Another three local semifinalists attend The Athenian School, a private campus in Danville. One home-school Danville student made the list, too.

"I congratulate our remarkable students who work hard each and every day and take advantage of every opportunity to learn and grow," SRVUSD superintendent Rick Schmitt said in a statement Thursday. "SRVUSD is invested in educating the whole child through a balanced approach to teaching and learning."

The approximately 16,000 national semifinalists represent less than 1% of U.S. high school seniors, consisting of the highest scoring entrants from each state, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, the not-for-profit group that organizes the annual award program.

To qualify, a semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay and earn SAT scores that confirm the student's earlier performance on the qualifying test, according to organizers.

Up to 15,000 of the students will make the cut as finalists when the list is announced in February, organizers said.

To become a finalist, qualifying students and their high school must complete a detailed scholarship application in which they provide information about the semifinalist's academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received, organizers said.

About half of the finalists will earn a National Merit Scholarship when the winners of the 62nd annual program are announced in the spring.

"As we celebrate our continuing academic success, we must remember that our students' successes are not just measured by test scores and assessment results. Our focus is on students' continuous improvement, rather than performance," said Schmitt, who is in his first school year leading SRVUSD.

"The overall physical, emotional and social well-being of our students is critical to ensuring that they live a balanced and healthy life," he added. "With that said, the PSAT, as well as the follow-up SAT, are aligned to the California State Standards and are good measures of what we teach and expect our students to learn."

The list of semifinalists from the San Ramon Valley and throughout California can be viewed online.

Source: Dozens of SRVUSD students named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists

Alliance establishes MU School of Medicine scholarship

The Herald-Dispatch

HUNTINGTON - The West Virginia State Medical Association Alliance has donated $90,000 to help provide scholarships for new medical students in West Virginia.

All donations were provided by WVSMAA members, who are spouses of West Virginia physicians.

Their latest effort provides $30,000 endowments to each of the three medical schools in the state: the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine and the West Virginia University School of Medicine.

The endowments will be known as the WVSMA Alliance Scholarship. Interest from the endowments is expected to provide at least three $1,000 scholarships each year to West Virginia residents entering one of the three medical schools. The eligibility criteria include academic performance, leadership experience and financial need.

WVSMAA has held numerous fundraisers over the years for a variety of health-care related projects throughout the state, primarily focusing on women's and children's health issues.

Donations to the endowments can be made in honor of someone, as a memorial or to support an alma mater. To make a gift to the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, contact Linda Holmes, director of development and alumni affairs, at 304-691-1711 or holmes@marshall.edu, or make a gift online at https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/marshalljcesom.

Source: Alliance establishes MU School of Medicine scholarship

Issues with online submission of scholarship applications

September 16, 2016

With the Govt. of India making it mandatory to apply online for all types of central scholarships many parents, students and school authorities have tough time with the process of online submissions. It is strange that the highest level officials of the Govt. of India have taken such a decision without realizing the ground realities existing in many remote areas in the North Eastern states. Even at many District head quarters the net connectivity is very weak and sometimes it takes hours to submit one online application. One can imagine the plight of students from sub divisions and villages who have to depend on one or two net cafés that too use only 2G connectivity. Above all the national scholarships portal develops technical snags time to time and no one knows whom to contact for reporting such issues and seeking help. For example, from the first week of September, class XII students are unable to submit their applications as the option under the drop down menu 'Present Cour se of Study' does not show class XII.  The Help Desk contact number given at the portal never responds except auto playing a welcoming message and immediately saying 'bye'.

Another issue is the making of Aadhaar mandatory for applying all types of scholarships. Recently the condition of having Aadhaar number is relaxed and those having the Aadhaar enrolment number are now permitted to apply. Last week a West Bengal-based educational and charitable trust challenged the constitutional validity of the need for Aadhaar card and applying online for the scholarships at the High Court of Delhi and the Court has issued notice to the Centre asking it to file a reply by September 23. The bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal asked, "Why is this kind of instruction being issued? How can you (Centre) say that Aadhaar is mandatory? "It is worth mentioning here that on October 15, 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that Aadhaar could only be linked to six government schemes (Public Distribution Scheme, L.P.G Distribution Scheme, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employement Guarantee Scheme, the National Social Assistance Programme, Prime Minister's Jan Dhan Yojana and Employees' Provident Fund Organization) on a "voluntary" basis. The Aadhaar Bill, which allows the government to ask any citizen for Aadhaar to avail of government subsidies or schemes, was recently passed by Parliament, but the Aadhaar Act, 2016, is yet to come into force. And until that happens, the Supreme Court order reigns supreme.

Disregarding the Supreme Court order, which limited linking the Aadhaar card to six government schemes, the University Grants Commission has made Aadhaar mandatory for disbursement of all government subsidies, scholarships and fellowships" for the financial year 2016-2017 and now the same has been extended throughout the country. With litigations in this regard pending at the Delhi High Court and also at the Supreme Court of India, we are left with no option other than developing patience with the help of the available 2G networks.

Nellayappan BBhandari.

Source: Issues with online submission of scholarship applications

Scholarships - Yankton Press & Dakotan: River City

Yankton College Scholarships

Graduating high school seniors and post-grad students who are college bound during the 2017-18 academic year are encouraged to apply for a Yankton College scholarship to use at an accredited college or university.

Each spring the Yankton College Scholarship Program awards several $1,000 scholarships from endowed funds to deserving high school seniors and post-graduate students with a Yankton College connection, academic merit and other specific criteria, established by the Yankton College Scholarship Committee.

Eligible students have until the Feb. 20, 2017, deadline to submit an application.  Applications are available online at www.yanktoncollege.org or at the Yankton College office located at 1801 Summit St., Door No. 9, at the north-end of the Summit Activities Center in Yankton Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Goals of the Yankton College Scholarship Program are to perpetuate the Yankton College tradition of liberal arts in higher education; support deserving young persons who have shown outstanding promise; apply discretionary funds to a higher function and promote the memory and reputation of Yankton College.

The endowed Yankton College scholarships come from the kindness and generosity of the YC alumni and friends who are inspired by the positive influences of Yankton College.

For further information, contact Yankton College by phoning toll-free (866) 665-3661.

Source: Scholarships - Yankton Press & Dakotan: River City