2023 Presidential Scholarship Interviews
The scholarship of a lifetime is up for grabs at Briar Cliff University.
“The Presidential Scholarship is for full tuition that we award to four students every year,” says Andy Osborne, the recruiting coordinator. Two presidential scholarships are handed out each semester for the following school year. Along with the presidential scholarships, Briar Cliff is also handing out two ‘blue’ scholarships worth $5,000 and two ‘gold’ scholarships worth $10,000 each semester.
Students from all over the world can apply. “Today we have three girls who are interviewing, two from Canada and one from Sweden,” says Osborne. For the application process, the students can do an in-person interview, or they are able to do an online interview through Zoom.
Some students, like Shania Cope, a high school senior from Grain Valley, Missouri, drove over four and a half hours for the interview. “I saw that the presidential scholarship would award me full tuition and I really want that,” says Cope.
The Briar Cliff softball coaches were the first people to reach out to Cope in hopes of recruiting her for the team. “I’m really looking forward to coming here,” says Cope. “I like the smaller classroom type and the coaches seem really nice, I’m very excited.”
“To apply for the scholarship, the student must have a 3.75 GPA or higher, submit a resume, two letters of recommendation and they need to do a video submission,” says Osborne. After those are completed, the interview process can take place.
The Interim President, Patrick Jacobson-Schulte chooses three other faculty members to join him to ask the students 20 pre-selected questions. Those members were Vice President Todd Knealing, Associate Professor Liz Rembold, and History Professor Eric Juhnke.
“We look at things like their academic credentials, but we also look a little bit deeper to see what kind of person is coming to campus because we want them to be able to come on campus, lead, influence, be a part of the campus community, and then persist, graduate and make exceptional alums,” says Schulte.
From the fall of 2022 to the spring of 2023, there have been 32 applicants, making it challenging for the faculty to narrow down to six student winners. “We have people who definitely bring that wow factor,” says Schulte.
The winners were chosen last Wednesday but not announced to the public. If those students chose not to come to Briar Cliff, the scholarship will be handed down to the runner-up.
“It’s fun to be a part of it and hear some of the stories and some of the work that the students have done, every single one of them is extremely impressive,” says Schulte.
Interim President, Patrick Jacobson-Schulte, Vice President, Todd Knealing, Associate Professor, Liz Rembold and History Professor, Eric Juhnke interviewing Shania Cope from Grain Valley Missouri for the Presidential Scholarship.