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Health & Fitness

Scholarship Expert Leaves No Stone Unturned at Tech Center Seminar

Seniors at The Tech Center may be taking out fewer student loans for college next year after attending the Scholarship seminar held on the campus of Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES this week.  Jean Fedora, director of School Relations at Connections 101, a company that provides free high school assemblies to assist students with college planning, career and scholarship strategies, spoke to students about the millions of scholarship opportunities out there — some that even go unused.

“If you’re interested in the environment, there are environmental scholarships. If you’re interested in healthcare, there are healthcare scholarships,” Fedora said. “There is a scholarship for virtually anything you can think of.”

The best place to start is at their high school college office, Fedora told students. “Top out your school. Go in every week and ask if there is any new scholarship that has come in,” she said. After that, Fedora recommended, students should spend at least 10 minutes two or three times a week looking up new opportunities on the Internet. “Ask relatives, friends. Lots of people work for companies that offer scholarships,” Fedora said. “There are scholarships based on what you choose to wear to prom, your opinion on the state of the country, poetry, you name it. And by all means, if there’s an essay required, apply for that scholarship. Most students don’t want to write essays, so you have a much better chance of getting that scholarship!”

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The one thing to be wary of, Fedora said, is scholarship applications that require a financial investment. “College applications require a fee,” she said, “but applications for scholarships shouldn’t.” Nor should they require social security numbers, she added.

Cosmetology students Luciana Adornetto and Lorraine Wade, both from Somers, said that the conference was an eye-opener for them. “It was really helpful,” said Wade. “We learned about how to find scholarships that you would never hear about,” said Adornetto.

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Connections 101’s Jean Fedora with Tech students Luciana Adornetto and Lorraine Wade.

 

 

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