2019 KZCF Annual Report

Page 8

SCHOLARSHIP:

Expanding the definition of excellence In 2019, the Kalamazoo Community Foundation

opposed to simply finding them. Through research,

(KZCF) Scholarship team explored how to remove

school visits and interviews with teachers and

barriers for local high school students looking to

counselors, the team identified common barriers in

further their education and reach full potential.

traditional scholarship requirements: transportation

The team took on the challenge of re-evaluating

and limited home resources, school curriculum and

the requirements and application scoring measures

activity offerings.

for one of our biggest scholarships – The Clarence L. Remynse Scholarship. “The goal of our program is to help students –

Lack of access to transportation limits participation in extracurricular activities, volunteer opportunities, SAT prep or tutoring. Limited financial resources

especially students with fewer resources – make

blocks students from participating in these activities,

their college goals a reality,” said Laura Galaviz,

especially if they act as a caregiver for a younger

scholarship officer at KZCF. “Unfortunately, a lot of

sibling or help support their family with a part-time

our evaluation tools were not necessarily set up to

job. Barriers are also created when schools are not

identify students who showed the drive, ability and

able to offer a variety of extracurricular activities

potential for success in higher ed, but more so to

and Advanced Placement classes.

reward students who had risen to the top of their classes in high school.” Remynse Scholarship recipients can receive a $7,500 maximum award that can be renewed for up to three years, making it the largest scholarship

“When we have a very traditional view of what excellence is, we inadvertently reinforce and even widen the achievement and wealth gap.”

offered at KZCF. “The Remynse is our largest scholarship both in number of recipients and award amount. It seemed

Laura Galaviz, Scholarship Officer Kalamazoo Community Foundation

to make sense that starting with that scholarship

6

would help us see how much of an impact we could

With these barriers in mind, the Remynse application

make by expanding our thinking around excellence,”

scoring measures were revised to include criteria such

Galaviz said.

as perseverance, growth, initiative, character and impact. Now, scoring does not factor in standardized

“Don’t lower the bar, lower the barriers”

testing. Extracurricular activity scoring takes into

The team’s new approach was inspired by Nadira

consideration work experience during the academic

Foley’s book, “A Radical Plan to Combat Inequality

year, student impact and demonstrated performance

in College Admissions.” She challenges institutions

improvement. The essay prompt also reflects this

to use resources to cultivate the best students as

newly adopted criteria.

KALAMAZOO COMMUNITY FOUNDATION | 2019 ANNUAL REPORT


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