One form of financial aid that Spectrum students have the opportunity to receive is scholarships. Spectrum students have the opportunity to receive a Spectrum scholarship for their senior Capstone project and a personal growth essay. There were multiple scholarship winners this year. Some of these winners include Maddie Smith, Zoe Longstreet, Emma Nelson, and Samuel Lerom.

When these students first learned that they had won a scholarship it came as a surprise to them.

“I thought it was fake,” Samuel Lerom said. “I didn’t think I was going to win it. So I sat there in shock for a little bit, and then everyone looked at me with so many people it was like, oh boy I won.”

With the winning of the scholarships these students had some thoughts on what made their work worth of receiving a Spectrum Scholarship for the Capstone Project Presentation and or their Personal Growth Essay.

“[I] would say it’s a little more personal,” Lerom said. “Mine was about my adoption story.”

Students have some advice that they wanted to give to future Senior while applying for these scholarships.

“Don’t procrastinate. Do your best, but actually do it, because you’re definitely not going to win this thing if you wait till the last minute,” Zoe Longstreet said.

“For the essay scholarship, I did just submit the one that I had written in College and Career Readiness Three,” Emma Nelson said. “I kind of just at it and I edited it a little bit more, and that’s the one I submitted. If some people are on the fence about wanting to submit an essay, they can always just submit that one and they’ll have a chance of winning.”

“Make sure you have energy, and just be confident,” Maddie Smith said .