Guidance departments makes scholarships easier to find and apply for online

The world of scholarships is so vast that every high school works to find the best way to get information out to its students. This year, the guidance department has made some major changes such as reorganizing its webpage on the school’s website and making the process of applying for scholarships easier.

The department has changed the webpage so that all the scholarships that have to do with the school, the outside world and ones for which the student needs a nomination are located all in one place. It is more user friendly and systematic with the scholarships organized in chronological order by deadline.

“We’re trying to make things much clearer because without that, students would be looking at maybe 15, 20, 30 different places. The website now can point you to a specific website and now all the scholarships are listed in an organized fashion,” said assistant principal Brian Safine.

Guidance has also created an application that makes it easier for students to apply for all scholarships by filling out a universal scholarship application. The universal application will be the first one counselors look at when deciding who gets which scholarships, and Safine urged all seniors to fill it out.

“I think the universal application is a great improvement because the counselors who do the nominations have all of the students’ information right in front of them. It is a big help for us and the students because it simplifies and standardizes the whole process,” said college and career center coordinator Bonnie Sheikh.

“We have worked hard to customize the webpage this year; we’re trying to make it intuitive for students to find the information they need. For example, there is an additional list which is in alphabetical order with a brief description about each scholarship and the organization’s website,” said Sheikh.

Students have seen the improvements made and the clarity in the information.

“I like the quick links in the middle of the page that link us to important imformation. It makes browsing easy and accessible and almost all the other links are located conveniently to the right so users don’t have to scoure through a million sites to find what they want,” said senior Jonathon Chen.

The guidance department is always updating the site with application deadlines and new scholarships, so students should check it often.

“My feeling is that you can put as much information out as possible but the students still need to be proactive and use the information to their advantage,” said Sheikh.