The Cerritos College scholarship workshop was a program that helps students in making an application for universities they want to attend on August 27. It was made possible through a power point presentation by Rachel Samarin, the scholarship coordinator for Cerritos College Foundation. It brought out helpful tips and step-by-step instructions for the applications.
Samarin said that the scholarships offered would start from early August to the end of November because the people who handle it would carefully choose how the students who submitted could be matched.
Samarin says that she doesn’t know exactly how many students can get the actual scholarship, but that there is a method for how many she can count for students.
“Add up the numbers in parenthesis and it will tell you how many,” she explained.
Many students came to the workshop to apply for different scholarships shown on the list given to them.
It included the scholarships, “$500 Adrienne Cheung Dong Scholarship,” “$1000 Cheryl Epple Memorial Scholarship” and “$750 Artesia-Cerritos Woman’s Club Scholarship.”
For each of these, as well as other scholarship opportunities, they all have different requirements to achieve, but they all have one common requirement that everyone has to do.
To apply for any kind of scholarship, the student must complete an online application, have a match with their major and scholarship they want, write a personal statement describing why, have their unofficial transcripts sent and have two letter recommendations.
They say that it is best to have the letters from teachers, employers or a favorite coach. Some of the matches they offer are personal statement and financial hardships.
“I received an email from my professor for this workshop, and he always told me to do my best and pushed me to be my best,” Edgar Ramirez, architecture major, said.
The presentation also included a timeline for the students. It had the application period, selection committee review, interviews and notification recipients.
“I don’t think it’s hard to apply for a scholarship, at least not from the workshop,” Frances Rivera, human resources major, said.
People asked if the scholarship they need a specific club or foundation and if they have to be included in it partially or as a full-fledged member.
Then Samarin gave out tips in the powerpoint for the interview. She said to use scholarship requirements to guide their application and statement, to have their experiences in life reflect on a personal statement, always follow the prompts and use a professional email address for the application.
