Medical Lake Middle School was recently honored with its third Gold Star Award.
The award is given to schools for being in the top-performing districts in the state in terms of getting eligible seventh- and eighth-graders signed up for the College Bound Scholarship program.
The College Bound Scholarship Program, established by the Legislature in 2007, is a state program that provides financial aid for seventh- and eighth-grade students whose families are income eligible. Students who are enrolled in foster care or are a dependent of a state are automatically eligible for the program, as are children whose family receives basic food or temporary assistance for needy families benefits.
The program is a two-part process. Eligible students complete an application when they are in middle school. They re-apply for the scholarship by filling out their free application for Federal Student Aid or Washington State Financial Aid in their senior year of high school, and every year they are in college. The money can be applied to numerous eligible two- and four-year colleges and coincides with the state need grant.
Medical Lake Middle School Principal Sylvia Campbell credited counselor Ted Koch for signing students up for the program, something he has been doing for the last five years.
“We’ve gone from having hardly any (eligible) students signed up to having close to 100 percent,” Koch said.
Koch will reach out to students when they first become eligible for the program. Teachers will also speak with parents during conferences and Koch will follow up with them.
“The overall awareness (for the program) has gone up,” Koch said. “There are students who have had siblings enrolled in the program and parents will come seek me when their kid gets to seventh-grade and say ‘I want you to sign them up for the program.’”
As part of the application process, students must graduate from a Washington state high school with a cumulative 2.0 GPA or higher, and have no felony convictions.
Koch said some Medical Lake students, especially those whose parents are stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base, will sometimes move out of state.
“If a student moves away and then comes back and graduates from a Washington high school, they’re still eligible for it,” he added.
Koch said one benefit of the program is that it presents students, who do not think they would go to college because of finances, an opportunity to receive funding.
“Once students realize they are eligible for the program, they take their education more seriously,” Koch said. “I’ve talked to eighth-graders who way ‘I’ve got this college bound scholarship, I’m going to college.”
Seventh-grader Julien Anderson completed his College Bound Scholarship application on March 16, Anderson, who wants to become a veterinarian when he grows up, said being enrolled in the program “makes him feel good.”
“It will help me in becoming a veterinarian,” he added.
Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.
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