Catawba College students attended or will attend the Stanford Biochemistry Departmental Symposium in Santa Cruz, Calif., the 2012 National Leadership Conference in Charlotte, the Southeastern Psychological Association Conference in Atlanta, Ga., and the Southeastern Theatre Conference in Louisville, Ky., all thanks to new SGA-funded scholarships.
This year, the college's Student Government Association set aside a portion of its annual budget to help students fund travel to academic conferences. Thus far, 13 students have been awarded scholarships of up to $250 to help cover transportation, academic conference registration and hotel expenses.
According to 2012-2013 SGA Executive President Jana Burkhardt of Wake Forest, "SGA decided to approve this recommendation because we wanted to first and foremost help our student body reach its highest potential. Providing such scholarship funding will do three major things: improve learning opportunities for students, broaden curriculum to include essential out of the classroom experiences, build a positive reputation for the college, and help spread the word about Catawba.
"We all have a passion for this school," Burkhardt continued, "and we want other organizations to have the opportunity to see why. This allocation set aside specifically for academic conference scholarships will show potential students, faculty and members of our College Board of Trustees that Catawba's students have an interest in making their education the best it can be."
Burkhardt explained that three students who now serve as SGA executive officers this year, treasurer Leah Constan-Tatos of Johannesburg, South Africa, secretary Justin Smith of Greensboro, and vice president Christian Crifasi of Ramseur, presented the scholarship idea last year. The then SGA Executive Board asked these students to bring their suggestion as a recommendation before the Student Congress. The Congress approved amending the SGA Constitution to appropriate some of the SGA budget on an annual basis for funding student travel to academic conferences.
Students who apply for the academic conference scholarships must have a faculty sponsor complete a portion of the online application (available online at www.catawba.edu/SGAapp). After the applications are received, a committee of faculty, students and staff members reviews them and makes the scholarship allocations of up to $250 annually per student. If a student applies during fall semester and only needs $100 for an academic conference, that student is eligible to apply for the remaining $150 scholarship allocation during the spring semester.
January 25 is the spring semester deadline for Catawba students to apply for these scholarships to help cover costs to attend academic conferences. Students will be notified of the scholarship awards on February 8.
RELATED CONTENT:
SGA Scholarship Application
Attendance Verificaton Form (Faculy Sponsor Portion)
Student Government Association (SGA)
