Montgomery County Community Foundation staff conducted a scholarship workshop for rising high school seniors and their parents Sunday at the Fusion 54 building in downtown Crawfordsville.
MCCF regularly holds the workshop to share insight on higher education opportunities, college financing and available local scholarships.
The two-hour workshop was divided into two simultaneous sessions — one for the parents and the other for students. Students learned about financial aid, college admissions, two-year programs, transferring credits, essay writing, interview tips and scholarships.
“I wanted to give students some concrete tools for approaching, one of the most serious high stakes, writing assignments, that they will do,” said Dr. Crystal Benedicks, English department chair at Wabash College.
She has been involved in the workshop for more than five years. Her father-in-law was one of the judges who read the MCCF scholarship essay submissions. He recommended she include essay writing as part of her lecture.
“I want them to have all the tools they need to go out there and succeed,” Benedicks said. “I remember being that age myself and being full of excitement and anxiety and desire to just set out on my own.”
Meanwhile, parents and guardians listened to a lecture focused on financial aid and completing the FAFSA conducted by Susan Mayberry, marketing associate at INvestEd. It is an organization dedicated to helping Indiana students and their families with higher education expenses.
This year, MCCF was able to hold the workshop in-person.
“We were not able to do the workshop last year due to the pandemic, so we were not sure how it would go over with our first year back, but I was extremely happy with all the presentations,” said Sarah Storms, communications and scholarship director of MCCF.
She thought that the workshop covered all necessary things that the students will run into their senior year.
Hadley Broadwater, a rising senior at North Montgomery High School, attended the workshop. She is interested becoming a chiropractor.
“I would definitely say this workshop makes it seem easier when I start applying for college and makes me have less questions of what I am going to do. It helped me to make sure that I am doing it in the right way,” Broadwater said.
Kelly Taylor, MCCF chief executive officer, hopes the workshop helped both students and their families prepare for the next big step.
“We are just so thankful that we have many people from our community who come in and present and who want to make sure our students are prepared,” she said. “We are thankful for those volunteers who give up their time to help students on Sunday night.”
