The Students’ Association will offer a $1,000 scholarship funded by the congressional project fund and awarded by the Student Life Committee.
Student Congress approved the bill two weeks ago in a unanimous vote. Written by Rachael Shudde, an arts and sciences representative, and Daniel Vargas, sophomore class treasurer, the bill allocates $1,000 from the congressional project fund to one student scholarship to be presented this semester.
Shudde, sophomore political science and math major from Abilene, said during winter break her dad told her to look for more scholarship opportunities.
“By the time you’re a sophomore, there aren’t that many ways to get a scholarship outside of departmental scholarships, and those usually go to people with very, very high GPAs,” Shudde said.
Shudde talked to Vargas, sophomore accounting major from Coppell, and they worked on designing the scholarship. Shudde said there was some money leftover in the SA budget last semester, and she and Vargas thought a scholarship would be a good way to use that leftover funding. They talked with the Depot, the Student Life office and other SA executives to decide exactly how the scholarship would be awarded.
“We thought this would be an amazing way for SA to get involved with students,” Shudde said. “When it comes to helping students this is the first of its kind -trying to find a need in the community that SA can meet.”
The scholarship will be for freshmen, sophomores and juniors. Students must have a 3.25 GPA, an outstanding balance when the scholarship is awarded and must submit a 500-word essay describing their need, their effort for academic excellence and an active presence in the ACU community. Students on any form of probation are not eligible. Members of SA are also ineligible for the scholarship.
Students can apply for the scholarship at https://docs.google.com/a/acu.edu/forms/d/1nDcG4rzOWOmgo93Np1MbGcxQwKNJNhI_1v32y9Ujqcs/viewform?c=0&w=1.
The Student Life Committee, which includes ACU faculty and Chris Riley, vice president of Student Life, will award the scholarship using the process it already uses for other student scholarships.
Shudde said this is the most exciting project she has worked on in her two-year SA career. She said SA has the ability to do more than put on events, which many other groups on campus already do.
“Students’ Association is in a key position where we can offer things like scholarships,” Shudde said.
Shudde said the needs of students vary because some are more focused on academics and don’t have time to be active on campus, while others have outstanding financial needs and have to work instead of getting involved. She said she hopes the addition of a $1,000 scholarship could make it easier for those students to get involved on campus or focus more on school without the burden of financial needs.
SA will post a link to the scholarship application on their website in the next two weeks. Shudde said the link will also be available on the Depot website. There is no deadline set at this time.
In other business, SA unanimously approved a bill to fund the remaining balance, $500, of the Colby McDaniel Memorial from the congressional project fund. The memorial will include a bench, plaque and tree near Faubus Fountain Lake in honor of Colby McDaniel, a freshman who passed away last year. The sophomore class used some of their class allocations to fund the $2600 project. A GoFundMe account was also used to fund the project.
SA also unanimously approved a bill to allocate $1,500 to the Hammock Hotel project from the congressional project fund. Hammock Hotels will be structures for students to hang hammocks in common areas. The SA Hammock Hotel will be built on the lawn outside Mckenzie Hall. It will feature one large pole surrounded by 7-9 other poles. SA executives are working with Wildcat Ventures to obtain hammock rentals. A second Hammock Hotel will be sponsored by Kevin Roberts, vice president of planning and operations, and will be located between the Williams Performing Arts Center and the Mabee Business Building.
