Dollars for Scholars


Scholarship Puts Ph.D. Candidate on Road to Success
A Dollars for Scholars scholarship is more than getting money to pay for college. It’s about a community showing support for its young people and encouraging them to reach for their dreams.

Nicole Frank’s experience is a great example. She graduated from Franklin High School in Seattle in 1995, and entered the University of Washington (UW) that fall. Although her hardworking, single mother was an inspiration to her, Nicole knew her mother could not afford to send her to college. Nicole didn’t know how she would manage to pay for college, even though she had worked and saved throughout high school.

The UW and federal assistance that she received helped meet much of her financial need. But her Dollars for Scholars scholarship did more than provide the last critically needed financial assistance—it was the catalyst, the fire, the vote of confidence that ignited her ambitions and gave her the blast of inspiration that put her on the road to a remarkable career at the UW.

Nicole excelled in college both inside and outside the classroom. She organized a college readiness program at Seattle’s Rainier Beach High School––a school with many low-income students and low college attendance rates. She also led a summer math program at the same school.

In 2002, Nicole simultaneously earned bachelor’s degrees in Sociology, Statistics, and Applied Computational Mathematical Sciences. That set the stage for her advanced degree. Last fall she began work on her Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania on a full-ride fellowship.

“My Dollars for Scholars scholarship is what really got me going––the real springboard from high school to the UW,” Nicole says. “I never dreamed that it would start me down this road.”

The recession and escalating costs of higher education increase the likelihood that more students like Nicole will be wondering how they will be able to afford college. This makes it more important than ever for Dollars for Scholars to reach new levels of success in scholarship fundraising.

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Scholarship for Students With Learning Disabilities Created by High School Senior
Greetings, my name is Erik Ramstead and I am writing you to convey a story worth passing on. I am the Police Chief in our area by day and a Dollars for Scholars board member by night.

In the fall of 2002 the Nooksack Valley Dollars for Scholars board met for a monthly meeting. On the agenda was a student that came with a proposal for our board to consider.

Jacob J. McKissick a 2002 Nooksack Valley senior approached the board with a inspiring concept. Jacob introduced himself and asked our organization for help with his senior project. Jacob wanted to start a scholarship for students with learning disabilities. Jacob told us he had a documented learning disability that prohibited him from learning using traditional methods. Jacob participated in sports and other school activities but often needed a tutor and special classroom instruction to complete his classes. Having to try harder than most students, Jacob was able to maintain a 3.42 GPA and had been his class president and president of the Future Business Leaders of America club.
 
Jacob wanted to use the Nooksack Dollars for Scholars as a vehicle for his scholarship. For his senior project, Jacob wanted to raise enough money to start an endowment aimed at students with learning disabilities and managed by the Nooksack Dollars for Scholars. Jacob was able to raise over $3,000 for the "Jacob McKissick I Believe Scholarship" and continues to raise money when and where he can.
 
Jacob was a recipient of a Dollars for Scholars scholarship and is currently enrolled at Mercyhurst College majoring in Business and Hotel/Restaurant Management.
 
Jacob McKissick has a message attached to his scholarship: "I want to send you a message, you belong to a family, you are not alone in your struggle. You can dream and those dreams can become a reality. Here is some help to get you started. Now stand just a little bit taller and speak a little louder and be proud of who you are. This is what I hope my scholarship does for you."
 
The Nooksack Valley Dollars for Scholars assisted Jacob with the criteria for his scholarship and continues to manage it as well.
 
Erik Ramstead
Nooksack Valley Dollars for Scholars
Publicity Chair    

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Peninsula Hawks Scholarship Fund Celebrates 20 Years of Student Support
 The following is an excerpt from a May 2005 press release.  Click here for the complete story and photo.

 The Peninsula Hawks Scholarship Fund, a Dollars for Scholars chapter in Gig Harbor, Washington, celebrated its 20th anniversary this spring. Attending the celebration banquet were 70 current and former group members, Peninsula High School faculty and staff, and community friends and supporters.  In fact, many of the members of the committee that put the dinner together were founders of the scholarship program.  As part of the festivities, Rachel DeHoyos of Washington Dollars for Scholars presented a congratulatory certificate to the program for its 20 year record of student support.

True to their program’s mission of providing scholarships, the anniversary group included an appeal for contributions in its dinner invitation. Doubling the goal of raising $1,000 from this effort, the final tally for donations to commemorate the anniversary was over $2,000.  This created two $1,000 awards which were given at the annual scholarship assembly in May.  One went to a student pursuing further studies in a vocational field and the other to a student going in an academic direction.

The Peninsula Hawks program started in 1984 when a group of parents got together to look for ways to improve their school.  Principal Dele Gunnerson was familiar with a scholarship program at Port Angeles High School which he suggested the group investigate.  They and several staff members from Peninsula High went to Port Angeles, were impressed with what they saw, and decided to create a similar program at Peninsula.  The goal of the group for its first year was to double the amount of scholarship money already being given to Peninsula High seniors through local awards.  That they did by soliciting community organizations, businesses, individuals and families.  From there the total of awards given through the scholarship fund annually has grown to around $190,000.  All told, over its 20 year history, the group has awarded nearly $3,000,000 to graduates of Peninsula High School.  In addition, almost at its inception the group established a perpetual endowment fund which now totals over $150,000.  This fund is intended to provide a nest egg from which the school would continue to provide scholarship funds if the program itself were ever to be discontinued.

The essence of the philosophy of the Peninsula Hawks Scholarship Fund is to encourage all students to continue their education beyond high school by giving them recognition and financial support.  Students from all GPA levels and all areas of interest, whether academic or vocational, are eligible for assistance.  Scholarships given through the program range in value from $100 to nearly $10,000 for a multi-year award.  Students apply for the funds by compiling a personal portfolio called a scholarship notebook.  Notebooks are screened to match the criteria of the various community donors who then review the notebooks which fit their interests.  Typically about 170 PHS seniors complete notebooks each year.

There are many wonderful aspects to the Peninsula Hawks Scholarship Program, including the knowledge that several other schools in Washington have modeled their very successful programs after ours.  One of the most gratifying results for the founders at Peninsula is that reunion groups and alumni who were themselves recipients are giving scholarships in recognition of the boost they got from the program.  It is becoming multi-generational.  We are not quite to the point where a former recipient is a committee member, but that will happen any year.  Then the circle will be complete.

Written by Marsha Williams, Co-President
Peninsula Hawks Scholarship Fund

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