Weatherford High School students are encouraged to apply for the vast number of scholarships that are available to them. For many of these students, these scholarships can be the difference between getting to take classes maybe locally or somewhere else, or having to go straight to work instead. These scholarships can help parents too with the ever increasing costs of college tuition.

So what’s the catch? There is no catch, but students (sometimes with the help of their parents) must actively pursue these scholarships, and that is a big time commitment.

Many students acknowledge that the Junior year of high school is the most challenging academically.

“The difference between the sophomore and junior year is that when they (students) are sophomores they are more like younger students where they are taking mostly the same classes, but by their junior year, students have to open their eyes to the future and think like adults and college students. They have to choose classes that relate to the field of study in college in which they are interested. It’s important because they only have one year,” Mrs. Staci Tharp, curriculum leader of the WHS English Language Arts Department said.

Once they complete this paramount school year, sometimes they have a tendency to become less aggressive toward anything school related. The fact is this is not the time to slow down. Some students will be accepted to the college of their choice long before the end of their senior year, some as soon as December, and then starts the quest of how to pay for it.

“Many students are applying for the colleges of their choice through the early admissions application which is due by October 1st of their senior year. Students begin preparing the summer after their junior year. They spend August getting the recommendations they’ll need from teachers to submit with their application,” Tharp said.

Once they complete their junior year, rather than slow down, this is the time that they really need to turn up the heat and use that time to pursue these scholarships that can lessen the burden of high college tuition. The time investment can really pay off.

The WHS Counseling Center gives students access to the Roo Scholarship Report. The Counseling Center is dedicated to keeping the report current with the most up to date information of scholarships that are available to students. The January Scholarship Report includes new opportunities such as the Texas Telephone Association Foundation Scholarship, The McFarland Fund Scholarship, the W. Price Jr. Memorial Scholarship, the AJX Foundation Scholarship, and the Fountainhead Essay Contest. For the rest of the list, please click Roo Scholarship Report.

The time investment required to apply for multiple scholarships may seem daunting, but by keeping the end (and the savings) in mind, it might just be the best investment you could ever make.