Kirkwood aid programs reward volunteer and community work as well as academic achievement
For high-achieving students in eastern Iowa, Kirkwood Community College is sending out a message: “You are who we are looking for.”
For about fifteen years in a row, Kirkwood has made the first year of college easier for hundreds of who have earned Leaders for Tomorrow and Presidential Scholarships. Another search is on for scores of involved, motivated students looking for financial support in the fall of 2008.
Many of the students come from nearly every school district in the college’s seven county service area. Others choose Kirkwood from all corners of Iowa. The ranks of Leaders for Tomorrow and Presidential award winners are not only academic stand-outs. Many others were leaders of clubs, organizations, sports teams and community betterment efforts.
Kirkwood Dean of Admissions, Doug Bannon has seen the program “bring the best, the brightest and the most involved” students from the state to the campus.
“Kirkwood’s leadership put these two scholarship programs in place to help the students and also to raise the bar for our whole student body,” Bannon observes. “The neatest students in a high school setting are not just the ones getting straight A’s, although we reward bright students who will make their mark in the professional and academic worlds. Our Leaders for Tomorrow scholarships also attract and reward the young people who get involved, volunteer and make their schools and communities better places to be. Let’s be honest. Bringing these great students and citizens to Kirkwood makes our college better! We are honored to have them with us.”
Kirkwood Leaders for Tomorrow scholarships are available to Iowa high school seniors with a cumulative GPA of a 3.0 or higher, in the top half of their high school graduating class and demonstrate strong leadership qualities. Up to 60 scholarships for $1,000 will be awarded to seniors who will be full time Kirkwood students in the fall following high school graduation.
Presidential Scholarships are offered to Iowa high school seniors who score a minimum ACT score of a 25 or higher and also carry a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher. Up to 30 scholarships for $3,000 each will be available to students who meet these criteria and who will be full time Kirkwood students in the fall and spring following their high school graduation. This award is dispersed in $1,500 increments for the fall and spring semesters of the student’s first year, contingent upon maintaining a 3.25 GPA at Kirkwood.
Bannon estimates “over $700,000 we have awarded, easily” to Leaders and Presidential scholarship winners over the past 15 years.
“For the students who led a town clean-up drive, who volunteer at their church or hospital, we have a program here that will recognize those contributions. And for those academically bright students who want a solid start to a four-year degree, we have support for them, too,” he added.
The deadline for Kirkwood Leaders for Tomorrow and Presidential scholarship applications is Friday, April 11, 2008. More information and online applications are available at the Kirkwood Web site:
http://www.kirkwood.edu/foundation/scholarships
Information is also available from Kirkwood Admissions: (319) 398-5517.