By KRISTI MAYFIELD
Oakdale High School saw an excellent turnout for its recent Scholarship Night event, with many parents and students turning out to learn more about applying for scholarships and what scholarships are available. The evening, meant to provide knowledge and resources to both parents and students as they navigate the scholarship process, was facilitated by two of the high school’s own employees: Lisa Jones of the Career Center and Jill King of the Counseling Office. They, along with their colleague Joe Gilbert, worked to ensure that the evening would be helpful for all concerned with Gilbert focusing on adding the forms and applications to the electronic database.
After signing in, parents and students were asked to sit at the computer kiosks in the library so that they could follow along as Jones and King walked them through the electronic application process. They wanted to demonstrate how straightforward the scholarship application process is but also offer their expertise in the event that any of the parents or students had questions. Jones and King also reminded students that just within the local community there are more than 160 scholarships being offered along with a number of scholarships being offered from outside entities. Students were also advised that this is a process and that they need to be diligent and follow up to ensure that they are submitting things such as essays and letters of recommendation in a timely manner, if needed. Parents also had an opportunity to meet with both Jones and King following the presentation to ask any follow up questions.
Also as part of the evening, parents and students had an opportunity to meet with many organizations that provide scholarships such as the Oakdale Cowboy Museum, which awarded more than eight scholarships last year and is looking to award even more this year.
“We are happy to award these because we want the younger generations to keep this ranching way of life going,” said Debbie Santillanes of The Oakdale Cowboy Museum. With the Oakdale Garden Club, Oakdale Chamber of Commerce, Oakdale Joint Unified School District, Oakdale Sunrise Rotary, and the Soroptimist International of Oakdale onsite, students were able to learn of the various local scholarships available to them. Some organizations such as OJUSD are offering more than 40 scholarships this year alone and they want to ensure that local students know all of the specifics so that they can apply in time.
While many of the representatives were from Oakdale, there were some such as Marissa Cahn, who works in Outreach and Community Partnerships with Modesto Junior College, on hand as well to talk to students about various avenues that MJC can offer such as enrollment assistance, vocational courses and campus tours. Soroptimist International of Oakdale will also be hosting a College and Career Day for young women coming up on Saturday, Oct. 26 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Oakdale High School Library to assist young women with finding their aptitudes and core strengths so that they might apply them to their careers as they navigate this next chapter of their lives.
This event definitely provided some much-needed insight and resources to the scholarship application process. For some students like Troy Peterson, Leon Ariola and Jake Hoffman, this event gave them the chance to connect with various resources to find out more about the kinds of programs they might be interested in such as the diesel mechanic program in the Mechanized Agriculture Program at MJC.
OHS officials hope to continue these types of events in the future as this proved to be very beneficial for students and parents alike.
