$100

Your $100 contribution can fund a $100 Future of Maine college scholarship for Maine 3rd through 6th graders.

Why $100 college scholarships for elementary and middle school students?

It is about aspirations and a better future. That sounds patriotic, but in many small towns in rural Maine education is our best hope for a brighter future -- not bringing in new companies, not changing tax policies. College scholarships for high school seniors are helpful. They enable more students to attend college, but they don’t always build aspirations and they often just mean a accomplished student receives less financial aid from the college. Maine College Circle has been part of awarding college scholarships to Maine elementary and middle school students since 1999. While $100, even with interest, will hardly meet their college costs, we have heard students, parents, teachers, and principals say for years that these scholarships do a lot to boost a student’s aspirations and motivation in school today. If we are serious about building a brighter future for all parts of Maine, not just a more comfortable today, we will make the long-term investment in our own human resources.

$50

Your $25 contribution can help fund college workshops, college aspirations posters, the Maine College Advisor Weekly, the Maine College Advisor 2010, the College Knowledge Bowl for schools throughout Maine, and much more.

Why are all these programs important?

Information.

We should not ask students to aspire to what they do not know. We should not ask them to aspire to the general idea of college, because their odds of doing great things in education are much greater if the motivation comes from themselves -- if they have their own reasons for pursuing something of interest and something from which they can see that they can benefit.

Guidance counselors at all levels have many competing demands, but they have little time to accumulate information about opportunities in higher education. Neither the Maine College Advisor Weekly e-mail newsletter nor the Maine College Advisor book are the definitive resource, but they are intended to help -- to make a school counselor’s job a bit easier and a student’s education just a bit more purposeful.

$350

Your $350 contribution can fund a day of College Aspirations workshops in a Maine town, to reach elementary and middle school students, and high school students and parents.

Why talk with them about college at such a young age?

20+ years of workshops and talking with Maine students about the opportunities of higher education have convinced us that somewhere in middle school, students will begin to chose a course that is headed toward college or not. Trying to pull students back onto a college track can be done, but it is often under duress and it usually leads to students applying to college because they are asked or required, and that usually leads to a much less productive college experience than we should all aim for.

As a country, we fuss about drop-out rates and graduation rates and incarceration rates, much of which is about trying to pull students back on track. 20+ years of talking with students has convinced us that our best bet is to help students build aspirations when they are young, give them the information they need to engage their interest, build a community around them that will encourage them, stay with them in the years ahead and help them continue to build their aspirations and goals and plans. Our success in education, at all levels, will be much greater if we have engaged the student and his or her interests in this quest.

And what about all those who don’t want to go to college? Not everyone needs to go to college.

True, not everyone needs to go to college. And, we define college very broadly to include all organized post-secondary education. But, we think that all students should be presented with the opportunity. What most fourth grade Maine students know about college is that it is really expensive, you have to be really smart, and it will probably be really boring. Those three messages have been heard very clearly over the past twenty years. All three of those are wrong, and if those attitudes continue through middle school and high school, we will have a small percentage of students who attend college and an even smaller percentage of students who have a very positive experience and graduate. That is where we are today. We can do much better.

We hope you will join us in this effort to build aspirations and a brighter future in communities we have already supported, communities like Albion, Anson, Athens, Bangor, Belgrade, Benton, Bingham, Bowdoin, Bridgton, Bristol, Brownville, Brunswick, Bucksport, Canaan, Casco, Clinton, Corinna, Cornville, Cumberland, Cutler, Danforth,  Denmark, Dexter, Dover-Foxcroft, Eagle Lake, East Machias,   Edmunds,   Ellsworth, Embden, Exeter, Fairfield, Falmouth, Fort Kent, Freeport, Frenchboro, Fryeburg,   Gorham, Gray, Guilford, Harmony, Harrison, Hebron, Jackman,  Jay, Jonesboro, Jonesport, Lagrange, Lamoine, Lewiston, Livermore, Livermore Falls, Lubec,  Machias, Machiasport,   Madawaska, Madison, Milo, Monson, Moscow, Naples, New Portland, Newport, Norridgewock, North Anson, Northeast Harbor, Norway,   Oakland, Orono, Otisfield, Oxford, Paris, Pittsfield, Portland, Presque Isle, Raymond, Rockport, Rumford, Saco, Saint Francis, Sanford, Scarborough, Sebago, Sidney, Skowhegan,  Smithfield, Solon, South Paris,   South Portland, Starks, Swans Island, Topsham, Tremont, Trenton, Wallagrass, Waterford, Waterville, Wesley, West Paris, Whiting, Windham, Winslow, Woodstock, and Yarmouth . . . and in many more!

Please join us in this effort to build aspirations in the hearts and minds of many young Maine students . . . from Wallagrass to Kittery, Woodstock to Whiting. We hope you will consider a tax-deductible contribution made payable to:

Maine College Circle

251 Main Street

Yarmouth, Maine 04096

Please contact Bob Stuart, Director, at bstuart@mainecollegecircle.org with questions.  

Maine College Circle is a program of the publicly-supported, 501(c)(3), nonprofit Foundation for the Advancement of Education, established in Maine in 1992. 251 Main Street, Yarmouth, ME 04096 • 207-846-6770