As we come to the end of October, here are some last-minute opportunities you may want to take advantage of!
Doodle 4 Google 2015
Google is awarding a $30,000 scholarship to the best Google Doodle designed by a student. This contest is open to K-12 and doodles must be submitted by December 7, 2015. The 2015 theme is “What makes me…me.”
And, here’s one of the best parts, not only does the National Winner earn $30,000, schools can win a $50,000 technology grant if their student wins. Google says: “Students enrolled in homeschools are eligible to participate in the contest. If the National Winner is enrolled in a homeschool, the homeschool in which he or she is enrolled will receive $5,000 in value towards Chromebooks for Education and/or tablets with Google Play for Education. The National Winner may then donate $45,000 in value towards the establishment/improvement of a computer lab or a technology program for a public library or public school in their community that meets Google’s criteria for awarding grants.”
Grand prize is a $30,000 scholarship with four National Finalist awards and 48 state/territory awards – so there are lots of opportunities out there. Get drawing!
This contest is for 6th-8th graders and has become one of my favorites because there are so many opportunities out there – every VFW chapter awards a prize! Then, the first-place winner from each state competes for national awards totaling $50,000, with each first-place state winner receiving a minimum of $500 at the national level. The national first-place winner wins $5,000 and an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., in March.
The 2015-16 theme is “What Freedom Means to Me” and essays should be between 300-400 words.
This deadline is fast approaching, but you still have some time – essays must be delivered to your local VFW post no later than November 1, 2015.
~~ to your success
Joanne
Hi Joanne,
My daughter was accepted to be part of the Accelerated Collegiate Experience (ACE) program at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) tuition-free. She is 15 years old, but academically she is going to be in 11th grade and attending college this fall as the ACE program allows students to complete the high school requirements while earning college credits. She was registered as a homeschooled student; we used Florida Virtual as our home school method; for this reason she has transcript for all of her high school work and her GPA is 4.0 and her ACT score is 33. She should also have her service hours around 100 hours or so. Due to her homeschooled status however, her books expenses are not funded by the school district as in the case of a public school student admitted to ACE. For this reason, I would like to know whether we can apply for Bright Futures now as she is starting college this fall? or wait until next year? I am confused as to when the right time would be to apply for Bright Futures for someone in my daughter’s position. Who can I contact to obtain the correct information. Thank you for your assistance.
Hey Daniele –
Congratulations on the excellent work done by your daughter! The short answer to your question is that you must have graduated from high school before you can use Bright Futures, so if she will be using the college program to finish out her high school credits, you won’t be there yet. You should fill out the Bright Futures application during her senior year so that she can begin using it the following fall semester in college. Bright Futures does not always fully fund classes anyways as there is a dollar limit, so you are better off with fully funded classes through the ACE program. And – the good news is that if she wants to pursue grad school down the road, she will not have used all of her Bright Futures and can continue to use it for one semester into grad school. Here is the link to this year’s Bright Futures handbook for additional information: http://www.floridastudentfinancialaid.org/SSFAD/PDF/BFHandbookChapter2.pdf#page=5 Hope this helps!