GETTING A PIECE OF THE PIE: AREA SENIORS BRING IN THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN SCHOLARSHIP OFFERS

Graduates from Cape Girardeau Central High School, Jackson High School and Notre Dame High School got major slices of the scholarship pie this year, bringing in more than $1 million in first-year scholarship offers for their academic, athletic, club and service-oriented efforts.

When renewable scholarships are figured over four years, the combined Class of 1998 will have been offered some $3 million in scholarships.

Students raked in similar amounts of scholarship offers by school despite the differences in their graduating classes. Notre Dame, which graduated the fewest number of students at 77, raked in some $225,000 in first-year scholarship offers and $800,000 in offers for renewable scholarships.

Jackson, which had its largest class ever with 321 graduates, received some $300,000 in first-year scholarship offers. This was also a very big year in renewable scholarships for seniors, who surpassed the million-dollar mark for the first time and received more than $1.1 million in renewable scholarship offers.

"Our community as a whole values not just education, but higher education," said Jackson guidance counselor Judi Meyr. "It's really a team effort between the students and parents and school and community in pursuing scholarships and hoping that the students will get some reward for the hard work they put into them."

The most recent number of potential Central High School graduates was 274, but counselor Jerry Witvoet said the number will be lower when students receive their diplomas this afternoon. Although counselors track accepted scholarships rather than total offers to students, Witvoet said students had received an estimated $1.2 million in renewable scholarship offers. To date, students have accepted some $265,000 in first-year scholarships and $965,000 in renewable scholarships, he said.

"I think our students are able to be very competitive with a lot of other students across the state and nation," he said. "I think it says something about our curriculum and the preparation students get because that's what makes them competitive on ACT exams and gives them the background to do well on placement tests."

The totals include both academic and athletic scholarships offered to students, but Linda Meadows, director of guidance at Notre Dame, said there are a myriad of scholarship opportunities available for the enterprising student. A student doesn't have to be the smartest, or most athletically- or musically-inclined to receive an award, she said. Local, state and national scholarships are also available for military interests, community service, need-based aid and other categories.

"It takes a lot of time and a lot of work to get the scholarships," she said. "We work hard at encouraging (all seniors) to fill out applications, because there are scholarships out there for a lot of kids if they'd just take the time to fill them (applications) out."