Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

COUNSELOR'S DESK

by Donald Crane

This column has been sadly neglected of late. I think it has been a case of just not quite getting around to it.

This time of year I'm able to find so many other things which have urgent deadlines and my column suffers as a result.

This is the scholarship season. After several hours of labor, I managed to get recommendations written, transcripts completed, and Potlatch Scholarship applications sent off.

I certainly don't envy their scholarship committee in having to select one of those applicants. I also carried a large number of applications over to Wal-Mart at Hope last week.

I am asking students to return the Arkansas Governor's Scholarship applications to me by this week (Friday, February 14). They have to be in Little Rock on March 1.

I hope you readers understand I must set scholarship deadlines earlier than the actual date listed on the applications. Most require the counselor write recommendations, list test scores, or complete checklists. In addition, all require copies of permanent records with current grade point averages and class rank listed. To get all of this together takes time, especially when there are 15 to 20 applicants involved and so many other things which take me off task. Sometimes I wonder if I'm working for the school or the corporations which offer these scholarships.

Recently a student came into my office to pick up an Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship application for one of last year's seniors. Regretfully, I had to inform her last year's seniors could no longer apply for that scholarship. Every year, through this column, the daily school bulletin, posted notices, and by word-of-mouth, I try to inform seniors they can apply for the Challenge Scholarship only during their year of graduation. Current seniors must apply by October 1, 1997!

A.E.G.I.S. (Arkansas Education for Gifted In Summer) now has 28 programs for which students in all grades may apply. I'm asking students return those to me by Friday, February 28. The application process for any of those is very involved, so interested students need to get with it if they plan to apply for them. Students may apply for as many as three but can accept only one.

Well, let's see. What have I omitted? Oh yeah! We're still having school amidst all of the construction work. Things are getting even more cramped in the hallways. Last week, workers moved the wall even closer toward the door. The tar smell from the roofing crew was also nice. I think that curbed most of our appetites that day, and I don't think they're finished yet.

Sometimes I marvel at all of the hindrances and disruptions we have to our educational process. Educators are often criticized for not doing a good job. If some of those critics could spend a year in the business, I think they would be a bit more understanding.