Teacher college shirt day provides friendly deadline reminder

Bearden’s staff arrived dressed in their college best on Friday, sporting shirts from the University of Tennessee and a multitude of other schools. What’s the occasion? Application deadlines – competitive scholarship application deadlines, to be exact. “College T-shirt Day” for teacher alumni was designed to remind seniors of their upcoming deadlines, specifically the Nov. 1 due date for University of Tennessee and University of Georgia prospective students looking for scholarship dollars. Faculty and administration hope that the variety of college logos might motivate procrastinators. “Essentially, this is the last weekend they have to get all their stuff together and get everything submitted by Tuesday,” Principal Dr. John Bartlett said. For UT applicants, Tuesday’s deadline means their last chance to be considered for the UT General and Alumni Scholarship and the Chancellor’s Honors Program, as well as any departmental scholarships. For students applying to UGA, they must meet the deadline to be considered for the Foundation Fellowship and Bernard Ramsey Honors Scholarships. Any of these funding opportunities could ultimately result in thousands of dollars for seniors. Senior Ashley Campbell, applying to UT, in addition to Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Columbia, University of Chicago, and Stanford, will be working toward Tuesday’s deadline. “I applied to UT, but I still have to do the scholarship application,” she said. “I’m going to be working on so many college applications this weekend.” To be certain, she’s not the only one. Dr. Bartlett and College & Career Center Coach Mrs. Linda Mongeon have some advice for Campbell and all other seniors involved in the application process. “The best advice I can give to students is to really listen when counselors or teachers are telling them about those deadlines,” Mrs. Mongeon said. “Even though the application has a deadline date, and they may be ready for that, they might need supporting documentation; it takes time for that supporting documentation to get there.” Added Dr. Bartlett: “You want your application in as quickly as possible, but done correctly, too. The essay has to be right, but it has to look professional.” Bearden’s staff hopes soon-to-be graduating students got the message Friday. “Understanding what the deadlines are is critical, as well as meeting those deadlines before they get here,” Mrs. Mongeon said.