Community offers a variety of scholarships

SANDPOINT — Businesses, organizations and foundations across the county are once again handing out thousands of dollars in scholarships to Bonner County seniors this year.

“Our community is amazing at how supportive they are for our students,” said Jeralyn Mire, Sandpoint High School postsecondary counselor. “And what I love about the variety of scholarships is they are for different areas of interest, different grade point averages, different service projects — all sorts of things.”

Representatives from several of the organizations made their scholarship pitch to SHS seniors on Monday, as the deadline to apply is just over a month away.

This year’s list includes more than 65 scholarships, and while most are through Sandpoint area organizations, nearly half are available to any Bonner County senior. The Bonner County Human Rights Task Force, for example, awarded the three Darby and Amber Campbell Memorial scholarships last year to one Priest River and two Sandpoint students.

“It is open to graduating students of any high school or home-school in Bonner County,” she said. “We ask for a paragraph on what human rights means to you ... we also look at the activities of a student, whether the student indicates they have done activities in support for human rights.”

Among other organizations, the Rotary Club of Ponderay Centennial, Angels Over Sandpoint and Festival at Sandpoint also provide scholarships available to all Bonner County students. Some, such as the Disabled Veterans scholarship, are available to Boundary County students as well.

Some of the scholarships are specific to students of the Lake Pend Oreille School District, such as the LPOSD Transportation Association. For this scholarship, money is raised by local bus drivers for students of Lake Pend Oreille, Sandpoint or Clark Fork high schools. Anita Palmer, representing the Transportation Association, said they award scholarships to applicants who have at least a 3.5 GPA their senior year, and give preference to students who volunteer in the community, work part-time or participate in extracurricular activities. Palmer said even students in the three high schools who have never ridden on a school bus are eligible.

“And if you ever got in trouble on a school bus, you can still get this scholarship,” she said.

The Pend Oreille Arts Council is offering two, $1,000 scholarships for the first time this year, available to SHS and Forrest Bird Charter seniors who have a passion for performing or visual arts, though a majoring in the arts is not a requirement of the scholarship, said Carol Deaner, POAC president.

The community scholarship presentations were held just hours before the weekly meeting of the SHS Scholarship Club, which gives students a time and place every Monday after school to research and apply for scholarships.

And with Kendall Lang, SHS college and career mentor, as the advisor for the club, the seniors get the help they need throughout the process. Lang started the Scholarship Club last year, and said attendance picked up significantly this year with a number of students who attend regularly.

“It’s been really cool and I think students have been getting a lot done,” Lang said. “It’s nice for them because they are actually taking advantage of it.

SHS senior Christina McClelland said, with her busy schedule, the club gives her a time to set aside after school to sit down and get things done. While she hasn’t decided on a college yet, she said, she plans to major in international relations.

SHS senior Cole Baille, who is looking at attending University of Idaho, had similar sentiments about the Scholarship Club.

“It is a great time, because it is on Monday, to start off the week ... just really good for allocating time toward this stuff, which I would probably put off otherwise,” Baille said.

Both McClelland and Baille have been attending the club weekly, and agreed that the community scholarship presentations on Monday were helpful in their search for college funding.

“It was really helpful, and it was really cool to just see how much support the community has for us, and how many scholarships they are offering,” McClelland said. “I am very happy and grateful for that.”

Any Bonner County student can access the scholarship list and applications online under the “Counseling Center” tab at sh.lposd.org.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.