Stephanie Stacey and Morgan Evick drop by to talk about Consumers Scholars contest of 2020. This year we’re giving away $20,000 to one student and ten $1,000 scholarships to others!

Find out the details and the thought process behind this huge award on this week’s Money, I’m Home! From finance to fitness!

 

Transcript:

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00:07 Lynne Jarman-Johnson: Money, I’m home. Welcome on in. I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson with Consumers Credit Union. And we have got a finance to fitness that is just up your alley today. It’s all about our new Scholars program. And joining us today are Stephanie Stacy and Morgan Evick. They are our leaders, our coordinators, our champions for Consumers Scholars. Welcome on in.

 

00:29 Stephanie Stacy: Thanks for having us, Lynne.

 

00:31 Morgan Evick: Hi.

 

00:31 LJJ: Consumers has been in the scholarship award business for decades. But I’ll tell you what, we are shaking things up here at Consumers Credit Union with the Consumers Scholars Program, tell us all about it.

 

00:46 SS: This year we decided to go a little bigger than we usually do.

 

00:51 ME: We are doing 11 scholarships and one will actually be for $20,000.

 

00:57 LJJ: So one of those 11 is winning 20,000.

 

01:00 ME: Yes, yeah. So, one of the 11, and then the other 10 also get a $1,000 each though.

 

01:04 LJJ: So $20,000, that is such a big award.

 

01:09 ME: Life-changing.

 

01:11 LJJ: How is it that you decided to have the requirements and who can actually apply?

 

01:16 ME: I think we just wanted to make a bigger impact. We’re very community driven at Consumers and I think we wanted to give back to the community and this is one of the ways – through our youth.

 

01:29 SS: Yeah, so we’re looking for high school seniors who have a GPA of roughly about 2.5 or higher, and they have to be accepted into accredited college university or trade school, and you have to have a letter of recommendation, and we do have an essay. They also do have to be an active member with Consumers Credit Union.

 

01:51 LJJ: Tell us what that means to someone listening who’s not a current member but wants to apply.

 

01:54 SS: Yeah, if you’re looking to apply for the scholarship, we would love to have you as a member. It is a requirement in order to apply for the scholarship, you have to be an active member with us, so you can either go online and apply for membership, or you can stop in at any of our offices and we’re happy to help you get set up as a member.

 

02:10 LJJ: So, tell us why is it that you’ve decided to champion this program? This is a volunteer effort on your part. You’re the Cascade manager, so you already have a full plate.

 

02:23 SS: I do, I was very fortunate when I was younger, I came from a background where going to college might not have been possible for me if I hadn’t had scholarships and grants, and so I am very passionate about the fact that someone helped me to go to school, so I really want to give back and help with that.

 

02:41 LJJ: And Morgan, now how did you decide that scholarships was something that you felt passionate about?

 

02:46 ME: I think I’m passionate about it just because I’m paying for student loans [chuckle] and that’s no fun. I had the opportunity to go to college but not everyone does. So, I think this is something that can help a lot of people.

 

03:00 LJJ: So, now tell us about the actual essay process. How does it work when does it close, what can people expect?

 

03:08 SS: Yeah, so we are currently accepting applications. It is open and available on our Consumer’s Credit Union website, and the deadline does close March 1st, so you have to have all of your essays in by March 1st.

 

03:21 LJJ: Tell us about that essay process. Is it what, 90 pages? Just kidding!

 

03:26 SS: It is not 90 pages. It is 300 word minimum for the essay, you get to write on a really cool topic. So, if you were to develop a Mount Rushmore representing the 20th century, whose faces would you put on there?

 

03:38 LJJ: That’s a great topic.

 

03:39 SS: It is.

 

03:40 LJJ: Whose would you put up?

 

03:40 SS: I like Michelle Obama. I love her.

 

03:43 LJJ: Ooh, I like it, I like it. Why?

 

03:46 SS: I feel like she’s just an inspiration to not only young women but young leaders in general. Yeah.

 

03:53 LJJ: That’s awesome. So, really this is, it’s going to take a little bit of thought on someone’s part. And so, what happens next, how is it that you’ve determined it gets down to what, the top 11?

 

04:03 SS: It gets down to the top 11. So we have a panel who will come together, they’ll read every single essay, we have a specific squaring rubric that we use and once we get down to the top 11 then there’ll be some video submissions that we’re going to request after that where we’ll find our grand prize winner.

 

04:22 LJJ: The judging process must be really exciting for the judges. How does that work?

 

04:26 SS: It is exciting. So, it’s all completely anonymous. There are no names on the essays when they’re presented to the judges and so it really keeps everything fair, it does break it down by region, so we get to see what region they’re from, but not necessarily who wrote the essay.

 

04:42 LJJ: That is exciting, I bet you a little bit kind of… I bet there’s going to be a lot more applications this year.

 

04:48 SS: I think so, we’re excited about it.

 

04:49 LJJ: Well, this sounds so exciting Stephanie. Tell us a little bit about when you look at today’s day and age, and really what people are talking about is, how costly school is. Now, how far do you think something like this goes for someone?

 

05:05 SS: Yeah, I think this is going to help someone, depending on of course the school of their choice, but if you’re looking at a continued education at maybe a community college or a trade school, this is going to take you a long way towards getting exactly what you want.

 

05:20 LJJ: Well, it’s really exciting. Tell us a little bit about your goals and how you can see this building upon the high schoolers and how can they then see financial education as a win for them.

 

05:37 SS: Yeah, this is a great opportunity for us to be a bigger part of our community in providing more financial education. Once they are a member with us, we give them the tools that they need to be successful financially, whether it’s looking at your credit report, helping you with budgeting, so as you’re moving on with your continued education we’re there all along the way to help you with your financial education as well.

 

06:00 LJJ: So, let’s do a little recap and tell us exactly how we can find the application and how people can start working on their application.

 

06:09 SS: You bet. So the application is live right now on the Consumers Credit Union website, so that’s consumercu.org, and all you have to do is go in, it’s a very simple form, you can submit your essay and from there, we take it.

 

06:24 LJJ: So that is it. It is $20,000, it’s consumer scholar, We want you to be a part of it. So if you know a high school senior, please make sure that they find out about it. Very easy to apply. Really cannot thank Steph and Morgan enough, they have really just championed this and volunteered their time and we are so excited to be even just more impactful for those students that are heading on to a college, university or a trade school. Stop in to any office to find out more about the scholarship. And then listen in next week we’ve got lots more to tell you about great things happening in your community. I’m Lynne Jarman-Johnson, Aaron Bowersox is our producer. Thank you so much, Aaron, and thank you for listening today. Money, I’m home with Consumers Credit Union.

 

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