Education roundup: Scholarships, grants available
BBB Charitable and Educational Fund offers scholarship essay contest
CANTON − The Better Business Bureau Charitable and Educational Fund, Inc., is accepting submissions from area high school seniors for its scholarship essay contest. The BBB Life Lessons Essay Contest is a theme-based essay contest that challenges students to reflect on living a life of integrity and ethics. The essays are submitted online and reviewed by a panel of judges. The top six essays will be awarded scholarships ranging from $500 to $2,500. The contest is open to area high school seniors attending schools in the BBB’s 64-county service area, which includes 12 counties in Ohio and 52 counties in West Virginia.
There is no GPA requirement to apply, and scholarship funds are used toward attending any career, technical, college, university or trade school after high school graduation. Essay submissions will be accepted through March 31.
The theme for the 2023 essay contest is “Honesty.” In the essay, students should describe a time when they were honest and it had a positive or negative outcome, and what lesson was learned from it.
The scholarship is sponsored by Byrider and available to any student seeking to further their education after high school, including those students attending nontraditional avenues such as trade or technical schools.
Students, teachers, and parents can read more about eligibility, view instructions on how to apply, and submit entries on the website bit.ly/CantonBBBLifeLessonsEssayContest.
College Club of Canton offers grant
CANTON − The College Club of Canton offers a grant to Stark County female senior high school students who will attend college to study in a program that leads to a baccalaureate degree. The grant amount and number to be given are yet to be determined. Applications are available at Stark County guidance offices, at https://www.collegeclubofcanton.com/, or by contacting Chris Sbaraglia at 330-284-1376. The deadline for receiving the applications is March 1.
Dominion Energy scholarship deadline is Wednesday
Dominion Energy is accepting applications for its Educational Equity Scholarship Program, a six-year, $10 million initiative that provides financial assistance for students from historically underrepresented communities pursuing undergraduate degrees across the company's service area. Eligible students are encouraged to apply. The scholarship application is open for students to apply through Jan. 25 at 4 p.m.
To be eligible, students must:
Self-identify as Black or African American; Hispanic or Latino; American Indian or Alaska Native; Asian; or Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander with higher education expenses.
Be high school seniors or graduates or current college undergraduates residing in Ohio, Connecticut, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Idaho, Wyoming, or Utah, with plans to enroll full-time at an accredited two- or four-year college, university or vocational-technical school for the entire upcoming academic year. Schools in which students are enrolled are not required to be located in the Dominion Energy service area.
Have a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale (or its equivalent).
Of the 60 scholarships totaling $500,000, 20 awards of $5,000 each will be made available for students enrolled in two-year schools. Students enrolled in four-year schools will receive $10,000 each. Recipients can renew scholarships as they progress in school, provided they meet specific criteria, such as GPA requirements and residence in an eligible state.
The program is administered by Scholarship America, a nonprofit specializing in managing scholarship and tuition assistance programs. Scholarship America will support Dominion Energy in the selection of finalists.
Students can learn more and apply at DominionEnergy.com/EquityScholarships.
Mount Union’s Spectrum Education Center awarded grant
ALLIANCE − The Ohio State Bar Foundation has awarded a $22,500 grant to support the University of Mount Union’s Spectrum Education Center and its Courage 2 Communicate campaign.
Courage 2 Communicate was developed by Dr. Kristine Turko, BCBA, COBA and her students working at the Spectrum Education Center. The grant will be overseen by Turko, with the help of Mount Union students, local high school partners and local law enforcement agencies.
Courage 2 Communicate provides education about Ohio’s Communication Disability Law. This law allows anyone with a diagnosed communication disability, like autism, to voluntarily enroll in a database that connects to LEADS (Law Enforcement Agencies Data System). This provides the officer with a warning that the driver, or a passenger in the vehicle, may have challenges communicating.
The grant funds will be used to educate Ohioans about the Communication Disabilities Law, help people enroll in the LEADS database and to educate law enforcement about communication disabilities. This work supports the mission of the Ohio State Bar Foundation to promote public understanding of the law and improvements in the justice system throughout Ohio.
High school students across five counties (Stark, western Mahoning, western Columbiana, northern Tuscarawas and Carroll) will be trained to share information with families in their school districts about the Communication Disabilities Law and get families enrolled in the state-wide database.
In addition, educational materials will be developed to educate law enforcement about communication disorders so that officers are prepared to respond to calls for those who are registered in the state-wide program.
Stark State/Clark State court reporter program offers certificates
The joint Stark State College/Clark State Community College digital reporting program is adding new certificates and new software to their current curriculum.
Beginning this month, the online program will add a digital reporting certificate program with two short-term certificate tracks (professional digital reporter or professional digital editor) to their current judicial court reporting degree program. The new certificate programs will educate students on Stenograph’s digital court reporting software MAXScribe using material from the Stenograph Digital Reporting Academy.
The combined Stark State/Clark State judicial court reporting program, approved by the National Court Reporters Association, maintains a 100% job placement rate.
To learn more about the Stark State/Clark State’s judicial court reporting program, visit starkstate.edu or clarkstate.edu or contact Rene Eneix at reneix@starkstate.edu or Robyn Hennigan at henniganr@clarkstate.edu. For more information on Stenograph’s Education Network: enterprise@stenograph.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Education roundup: Scholarships, grants available
