New Student Aid Legislation

Today, Bush signed into law the new legislation on student aid. The bill will decrease federal student loan interest rates over the next few years. It will also increase the Pell Grant amount gradually. As far as i know, next year's Pell Grant will still be 4,800, but we'll see how that changes over time. This is mostly good news for students who are trying to get a post-secondary education. I mentioned this legislation a while back, but now it's official!

Lead Hill School Visit

Considering today was picture day (and students were getting their pictures taken while they were scheduled to be at the Talent Search meeting) things went pretty well. 7th graders, next visit I will bring your personalized career lists based on the Career Explorer. 10th through 12th graders, DON'T LOSE YOUR COPS INVENTORY! We will extend what you found in the inventory to our next visit. Speaking of the next visit, unless things change, I will be there on the 10th of October. Until then, keep checking The Blog for updates.

New Poll and Analysis

Last month's poll was the first for the ETS Blog. The clear winner was "podcasts". Podcasts will come soon. We hope to put the first one up at the beginning of October (we'll see though). If you aren't sure what a podcasts, is click here. As for free stuff, expect to see that here from time to time. This month we want to know which type of workshop is most wanted by you, the students. It's right over there (near the upper right corner of the web site). Go, click, vote - it's that simple :)

Need Help With the FAFSA?

The first thing you must do in order to qualify for financial aid (of almost any kind) is to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). This application can be intimidating and confusing. If you or your child is/are graduating this year, you'll want to be thinking about this form. With that said, let's move onto the good news.

College Goal Sunday is a program that will help parents and students fill out the FAFSA. On March 2, 2008 College Goal Sunday will take place in the JPH building on the Northark South Campus. There you will be able to fill out the FAFSA electronically and with assistance. Make sure you visit the College Goal Sunday website now to see the list of items you need to bring with you. This program is completely free and available to everyone, so attend and take the headache out of the FAFSA.

All the Information You Can Stand!

Well, College Planning Day sure went well (and as of right now it's still going on)! I was glad to see you talent search students there. I hope you got all the info you needed. Click here for photos from College Planning Day.

A new feature I'm adding to the blog is a web album. That's right, our photos are available to view from any computer. The address is http://picasaweb.google.com/northarktalentsearch/ or you can click the link at the top of the page. As we have more events and activities, there will be more photos to view.

Yellville and Bergman students, be on the lookout for the latest ETS field trips. The information should be coming from your schools by next week. More details from me to follow later.

Reminder: College Planning Day

Tomorrow is College Planning Day at Northark. If you haven't heard me say that yet, you must have been sleeping :) Here is a schedule for the day:

9:00 – 10:00          Jasper, Valley Springs, Cotter, Kingston
9:15-10:15            Mount Judea, Green Forest, Bruno-Pyatt
9:30 – 10:30          Berryville, Deer
10:00 – 11:30         Leslie, Marshall
10:15 – 11:15         Lead Hill
10:30 – 11:30         Omaha, Clear Spring, Bergman
11:30 – 12:30         LUNCH BREAK
12:30 – 1:30          Eureka Springs, Grace Christian
1:00 – 2:00           Saint Joe
1:30 – 2:30           Alpena, Western Grove

Come prepared with questions and something in which to put all the flyers you get. Look for your Talent Search Counselor when you come. We should all be there.

Bruno-Pyatt Field Trips

7th graders, I was happy to meet with you new members for the first time, but I was disappointed there are so few of you. Mrs. Stokes and I are working on a plan to incorporate 8th grade into Talent Search as well. Don't worry, we will grow in numbers and do lots of interesting things this year (be thinking about a field trip destination).

Seniors, I am working on a trip to Missouri State University. I will talk with your administrators to see if two trips are possible this year. That way we can get both a tour, and a recreational trip in this year. I am looking into the Jones Center and Silver Dollar City. If any of you have more suggestions, send me an email (my address is at the bottom of the page).

College Tours and Valley Springs Middle School

Thank you Mrs. Roberts for getting me such a good setup for Friday's ETS meeting! Besides a few technical difficulties, we had a productive workshop. Also, thanks to Mike (your last name escapes me) for ironing out the technical quirks. 8th graders, bring those forms back! You don't want to miss out on any of the activities.

Two of this year's field trips are scheduled to go already, including a college tour (that's you Bergman). Be thinking of where you want to go this year and have suggestions ready when I visit next. Juniors and seniors should know which college they want to tour.

there are only a few days left to vote in this month's poll. Make your voice heard before it's too late!

New Legislation and Bergman School

First of all, big thanks to Mrs. Sharp and Mrs. Clouse for letting me use their classrooms for Talent Search. Another big thanks goes to Mrs. Hastings for her warm welcome at Bergman Middle School. I was happy to see that there are so many Talent Search students at one school! Seniors, I've started work on the UCA tour. Hopefully we will be taking that trip next month.

I attended ArkACRAO today at Arkansas Tech in Russellville. ArkACRAO is a gathering of local colleges and financial aid represenatives. They get together to update counselors on new information which their students will want to know. I did find a few schools that take the ACT "superscore" for those at Bergman who asked me about that. I will give details on my next visit.

One good thing to come out of the new legislation which recently cleared Congress is: federal student loans will begin decreasing in interest percentage gradually each year until the rate reaches 3.4%. That will make it lest costly to borrow money from the government for your education - great news! I just hope some of the negative things that have been predicted about the legislation don't happen. Click here if you are interested to know more details about the bill.

Scholarship Updates and Yellville-Summit

I was looking at the adhe website and I found a scholarship that was previously unknown to me [not hard to do because I'm new at this stuff :) ]. This one is for you high achievers. It's called the Governor's Scholars Program. It has high academic requirements, but offers up to $10,000 per year! That would get you into some schools including room, board, and books. Woah!

I enjoyed meeting the Talent Search students at Yellville-Summit School. I especially want to thank Mrs. Nowland who worked hard to get me set up with the right classrooms (if you read this, tell her I said so)! Students, bear with me as I try to remember all your names ;) I hope you are all using your planners! I will see you all on October 2^nd, unless you get to College Planning Day at Northark (which I hope you do).

Academic Challenge Scholarship

I want to remind students that are looking to get the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship to make sure they are taking the required courses. The complete list can be found here. Remember: 2 years of the same foreign language and 4 years of math (at least one beyond geometry and algebra II). Check with your counselor if you think you may not be meeting the requirements. This is a really great scholarship that will provide about $3000 per year for up to four years at a college or university.

On a casual note, try to stay positive with all this gloomy weather we've been having this last week. Things should clear up by mid next week :) Enjoy the weekend!

GO! Opportunities Grant

I just found out about a new state grant available to students who will or are attending an Arkansas college or university. It is called the Go! Opportunities Grant and it provides $1,000 per academic year for a total of up to $4,000. Here is the website if you want to apply, and here is a direct link for the information packet with all the details you crave. Definitely get the details before you apply. My recommendation? Apply as early as possible. Some grants have a finite pool of money to pull funds from. If you wait too long the pool may be empty and nobody likes diving into an empty pool (ouch) ;)