Posted: 5/2/2008


The scholarships are called the Teachers Helping Students Succeed Scholarships, and all 2008 PALCS seniors are eligible.

The staff has been donating money every Friday since September to go towards a scholarship for seniors.

“Due to the generosity of the teachers and staff, enough money was raised to create four $500 scholarships,” says the scholarships’ website. [Click here to go to the website.]

It hasn’t been decided yet if this money will be given in cash form to the student, or as tuition to the school.

At this late date, students are encouraged to send their applications via PALCSmail to Mrs. Rudzinski instead of sending them through postal mail.

The application is rather simple, asking seniors to provide information about their extra curricular activities, which colleges they applied to and where they plan on going, and of course, their personal information such as name, address and phone number.

The scholarships have left some students wondering what the catch is.

The only thing that some seniors may have trouble with is the essay portion. Students must write an essay of at least 500 words.

This year’s essay question is PALCS-related:

‘What qualities does a person need in order to be a good leader?’

Of course, seniors writing the essay should put a lot of thought into the essay before writing it.

Students must also have a teacher submit a letter of recommendation. They may use either a teacher that they had in the past or a current one.

When asking teachers to send in recommendations or to be a reference, it is always important to ask early on in case they are busy or do not want to recommend you.

Always have a backup teacher in mind in case something goes wrong.

The only requirement to be eligible for the scholarships is that you’re a PALCS senior and have completed application, essay and had a teacher give a recommendation.

There are no minimum GPA requirements for this scholarship, which is beneficial to those who may not qualify for others, but still would like to continue their education at a lower cost.