CHEROKEE CHAT: Scholarship Preparation 101: Background

Both of my parents were teachers for Oklahoma public schools which meant I was not Pell eligible for Federal student aid nor eligible for other low-income based college scholarships.  If I wanted to go to school, I had to either earn the money through jobs or earn merit based academic scholarships.

As a college student, I never received one dime from the Cherokee Nation for college, never received a Pell grant nor took out a student loan.  I paid for all of my college degrees with scholarships I applied for or jobs where I earned a wage.

I earned enough scholarship dollars to pay for room, board, tuition and living expenses for both my Bachelors, Masters and PhD work in engineering.

If a student focuses on doing their job at school and being a good student who graduates with As in college prep courses, they should be able to do the same assuming they are not going into underwater basket weaving or law.

The basic thought is funders will pay for areas of national need such as physicians, nurses with an RN degree and other areas of high need and public service within science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).  For example, sports medicine does not qualify for significant scholarship dollars because it does not serve the general public and greater need same as a primary care physician.

I graduated with my Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1997 from Oklahoma State University.  Since that time, I have been giving presentations on scholarships to students.  I have been giving back for more than 15 years.

Saturday, November 1, 2014, will be the last Annual Scholarship Presentation I give for some time since I am term-limited out in 2015 and life will change for me in 2015.  I do not want our students and their families to miss out, so I have planned ahead to accommodate as many people as possible.

Finding and applying for scholarships is not rocket science, but it does take work as you will see in my three hour presentation which I created and wrote so you may have handouts to take home.

The handouts are my intellectual property which I have shared at no cost throughout the Cherokee Nation as a volunteer.

The presentation requires folks attend the entire three hours if you want every trick, tool and opportunity I have learned over the years of applying for scholarships successfully, funding scholarships and reviewing scholarship applications.

It has been an honor and pleasure serving students and parents throughout the Cherokee Nation.  Please pay it forward and share what you learn from me as well as what you learn from applying.

If you are unable to make it to the Rogers County Building at 416 South Brady in Claremore on November 1st from 1pm to 4pm, email me for the handouts.  Facebook messages, phone calls and text messages are not email.

To receive daily scholarship opportunities by email, email Cara your name, city and state at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. asked to be added to the OPC AISES listserv.

To receive Cherokee Nation daily news and event information by email, email Cara your name, city and state This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and ask to be added to the Cherokee Nation News listserv.

If you have questions, issues or concerns about the Cherokee Nation government, please email me This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or write me at P.O. Box 2922, Claremore, OK 74018. 

For daily news and event notices, ask to be added to my Cherokee Nation News and Events email listserv.  You may, also, find me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter.  Lee Keener is at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

To contact the Tribe, call (918) 453-5000 or visit www.cherokee.org.

Cara Cowan Watts is an elected Tribal legislator within the Cherokee Nation for portions of Rogers and Tulsa Counties.

Cara Cowan Watts

caracowan.com

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