Students Honored with scholarships from MGSLP

By Alyssa Kelly

RONAN - "We're here today to celebrate the success of achievements for the students who have gone above and beyond," says Mr. Courville, dean of students for Ronan Middle School. Although the event honored several athletes and the AIBL group, it was the 21 first-place winners of the Montana Guaranteed Student Loan Program (MGSLP) essay contest that truly came out with a guarantee to pursue their dreams above and beyond.

"For the past eight years, one of the major activities with the GEAR UP schools is to sponsor an annual essay contest. The essay contest was created to encourage students in middle school to think about saving for college, to emphasize the importance of writing well, and to provide an incentive for students to write. This year we are proud to announce the overall participation of 26 middle schools that turned in a total of 1,044 essays," said Tina Wagner, the outreach coordinator for the Montana Guaranteed Student Loan Program. Out of the 1,044 overall Montana participants, the Ronan Middle School (RMS) had 21 first place winners and out of the 11 that entered at Two Eagle River School (TERS), they had two first-place winners. The RMS and TERS GEAR UP programs have a partnership with the SKC program, which is coordinated by Kim Sparrow.

"As a reward for being a first-place winner, the students will receive a $200 scholarship to any college of their choice. MGSLP will hold the scholarship until they enter an eligible post-secondary educational institution. The scholarship can be used for up to five-years after the student has graduated from high school. We hope this scholarship will help students pursue their passions, expand their education, and secure the skills to succeed in tomorrow's world," says Wagner. This year the program was proud to announce one hundred and eighty six first-place winners for a total of $37,200. RMS combined has received $4,200 from the program and TERS students will receive $400. All of the contest winners will have their essays along with a photo of themselves placed in a GEAR UP essay book that will be seen by schools all over.

The Ronan Middle School and Two Eagle River School seventh and eighth grade participants were awarded their certificates at separate but equally significant ceremonies. Certificates were honored to the first-place winners, the teachers, as well as honorable mentions to the students that entered.

"School and staff certificates are awarded in recognition of their efforts, their commitment to furthering their students' education and dedication to their students' creativity and academic ability. The essay contest would not be the success it is without their hard work," says Wagner.

Ronan teachers honored were eighth grade English teacher Ms. Jones, as well as seventh grade English teacher Mr. Arcinega. Two Eagle teachers honored were Allen Bone, Barney Finley, and Kathy Knapp.

Here is the List of winners for both Ronan Middle School and Two Eagle River School.

The contest required a three to five hundred-word essay and the students were able to choose from five topics to write about. RMS students were required to write the essays for their English class assignments. "We were especially excited with the students' essays this year. They were articulate, hysterical, thought provoking, and spellbinding," says Wagner.

Although the MGSLP essay contest was introduced to the reservation eight years ago, Two Eagles' involvement hadn't begun until 2006. Unlike RMS, the essay contest is not a required class assignment and the participants volunteer their work on their own time. Their modest ceremony consisted of the teachers involved as well as the students' mothers and grandmothers. "I really wanted to make it special for the students that entered. So on top of their scholarships they were also given candy bags and we placed their certificates in covers. I'll also be taking them on a trip to Pizza Hut and to see the movie: Freedom Riders," says Kather Knapp, Two Eagles' GEAR UP representative.

Roylee Conica (eighth Grade) chose to write about her own personal guardian angel. She needed to explain what form her angel would take and which current dilemma in her life the angel would help her with. Roylee wrote a touching essay about her grandmother that had passed on. "The first thing that always pops into my head is my grandma because our family needs her here to keep us all on track, now that she's gone, our family is just doing whatever they want. I dedicate my essay and scholarship to her," says Roylee. As for her future goals, "I really like art, so I plan on spending the money towards a degree in art at Idaho Tech."

Mariah Barnett (seventh grade) chose to write about her favorite teacher placing a box on the floor and then leaving it. The box begins to shake and she needed to explain what was in the box and what happened. She wrote a cute story about a fuzzy animal that she was able to keep and in the end there was a twist. "I thought about doing the contest from my Eagle Plume Culture Club teacher Aggie Incashola and it took me about a week to write. I'll spend my money on going to SKC for nursing or something nature related. I chose SKC so that I could be closer to my grandma," says Mariah. For a final thought to students thinking of entering the contest in the future she offers this advice: "If you reach for your goals than you can do it."