PSS to award 57 Byrd scholars

Public School System records show that more students continue to qualify for the competitive Robert C. Byrd post secondary scholarship, a fair indication that CNMI students are meeting more than average academic standards in schools.

Federal Programs Coordinator Bill Matson said the PSS Federal Programs Office has been flooded with applications of the much coveted grant designed for batch 2000 high school graduates who have attained high academic achievements.

“This means that our students are getting more successful at the colleges they are attending because they are apparently retaining a 3.0 average which is needed in order for one to keep the scholarship,” he said.

According to Mr. Matson, the application response has exceeded the number of scholarships the school system offered. PSS has over $80,000 to award under the Byrd grant for both new and continuing scholars.

The list of the 13 new recipients to the scholarships will be released as soon as the designated committee required by the federal grant completes a thorough review of the new applicants. But the delay only affects new scholars belonging to the class of 2000, Mr. Matson noted.

“Although the delay is necessitated by the requirements of our Federal scholarships grant, we nevertheless apologize to those seniors and their families who are waiting for the announcement of the scholarships,” said Mr. Matson.

The Federal Programs Office has drawn over 25 new qualified applications within the last couple of months but unfortunately had to turn down less than half of them.

PSS has also received applications that did not meet all stringent scholarship qualifications.

There are currently 44 continuing scholars under the Byrd scholarship program. Although the school system has yet to assess who among these 44 are still qualified for the grant, it has been mandated to reserve funds in case the students are keeping up with the scholarship requirements.

PSS is set to award both new and continuing scholars within the next few weeks.

Each recipient is entitled to $1,500 for up to four years subject to continued federal funding and the graduate maintaining academic success in college.

Moreover, scholars may also qualify for up to $6,000 each, or a minimum in additional scholarship assistance, as they tread on to pursue college education.

The designated committee will select qualified applicants based on a student essay which will constitute 30 percent of the total scholarship decision (30 points maximum), the grade point average which will constitute 50 percent of the total scholarship decision, and two recommendation letters which will comprise the remaining 20 percent of the scholarship decision. (MM)