By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
For those high school seniors who are planning to attend college following graduation, applying for scholarships is likely one of the items on their to-do list.
That task just got a little easier for students who attend Plainwell High School.
The Allegan County Community Foundation recently announced that, through a partnership with Plainwell Community Schools, it will administer all scholarships offered the district and other participating community partners.
The ACCF already administered some of the scholarships offered to Plainwell students, including the Jack and Phyllis Streidl Scholarship that’s available to Plainwell student-athletes. The foundation also administers scholarships to the other school districts in Allegan County, for a total of more than $300,000 from nearly 50 scholarship funds.
ACCF executive director Stephanie Calhoun sees the partnership with Plainwell Community Schools as a win for all parties involved.
“We know that school staff is already spread thin,” she said. “ACCF has a full-time staff member to offer technical assistance to students throughout the application process. ACCF compiles all the required documentation to present to scholarship committees for the selection process.
“After the selection process, we track all scholarship recipients and arrange payments to educational institutions. We even allow and process scholarship deferrals, helping students best use their scholarship dollars.
“These services free up school staff to do what they do best: educate and support students.”
Scholarship services from ACCF make it easy for students to access scholarship money for 2-year, 4-year and vocational higher education experiences.
“Students are easily overwhelmed by the application process,” the ACCF said in a press release. “(Students spend) countless hours searching for and individually applying for scholarships. That is why ACCF uses an online application system that is easy for students to use, with a focused experience that limits tasks, shows progress and allows students to take breaks and seamlessly pick up where they left off.”
After answering some introductory questions, students are able to see every PCS, ACCF and participating community scholarship for which they are qualified. Then they only need to complete final tasks—like essay-writing, for example—specific to those scholarships.
According to Plainwell High School principal Jeremy Wright, the seeds for the partnership with ACCF began last summer.
“We sat down with them to figure out ways to streamline our community scholarships and they came forward and offered to run the scholarships through them,” Wright said. “The return would be it would be a one-stop shop for our students, making the process easier.
“We looked at the system and agreed. I view it as a time saver for our students. Hopefully, we will see higher quality and more applications as a result.”
In addition to administering these scholarships, ACCF will help promote and grow these and other scholarship opportunities for Plainwell students.
For more information about ACCF, visit alleganfoundation.org.