Evergreen students commit to college, get scholarships

Students at Evergreen Middle School are making a commitment to attend college by signing a pledge promising to continue their education beyond high school through the program Save Me A Spot In College.

Evergreen hosted a parent's night Nov. 4 informing them about the program and the opportunities their children have through this program. The students who signed the pledge were entered into a drawing for an opportunity to win one of four $250 scholarships.

According to Nancy Veatch, a teacher at Evergreen, about 170 parents and students attended parent's night. During the presentation parents were encouraged to have their children sign the pledge.

After the presentation, a student's name was drawn at random from those who signed the pledge and Adrian Stejer, an 8th grader, won a $250 dollar scholarship for her for commitment to college.

On Friday, Nov. 6, the school held an assembly and Brad Mendenhall, the principal at Evergreen, told the students about the importance of college and the opportunities they have to earn money to help cover the cost.

At the end of the assembly, the other three scholarships winners were chosen at random, one per grade level of those who signed the pledge. The assembly winners are 6th grader Brianna Larson, 7th grader Claire Lester, and 8th grader Morgan Collins.

"I think there is more awareness of the difficulty of getting a job without a specific skill set. It's no longer an option to not go to college and expect to have a job where you can provide for a family," said Mendenhall of the turn out for parent's night.

According to Mendenhall, Evergreen has been participating in Save Me A Spot For College for about five years. Students are given scholarship opportunities beyond signing the pledge, by participating in contests, like essay writing contests, creating posters, or videos and then submitting these entries for a chance to win additional money for college.

The scholarships the students receive are available to them once they graduate from high school and enroll in a junior college, four-year university, or vocational school, said Mendenhall. He also said that of the 460 students attending Evergreen, only 160 students have signed the pledge so far.

The program Save Me A Spot for College is apart of the Campaign for College Opportunity, which informs students about college to help guide and explain the importance of a college education.

The program along with their local partner, the McConnell Foundation, the Campaign for College Opportunity donates $1000 to the school for scholarships and also money for field trips to local college campuses.

Anderson Middle School and Parsons Middle School in Redding also participate in this program, and are the only three middle schools North of Sacramento who do. Anderson Middle School will be awarding their scholarships to their students from this program in December.