Bobbie Jean Sandidge 12: “I was praying by my bed when I found out I had gotten the scholarship. I couldn’t stop crying, so when I went to tell my mom about it, she kept telling me that it was okay, because she thought I didn’t get it.I just handed her my phone so she could see the email. When I filled out the form for the generic scholarships [at the University of Arkansas], they emailed me that I qualified for a Fellowship scholarship because I had made a 32 or higher on my ACT. I have a 33. To start the process for the scholarship, we had to fill out really long applications and get recommendation letters, and once they gave me the interview date I had to prepare with questions they sent us. The interview was really hard for me, because I’m kind of shy, but the people were really nice. They asked me generic questions about what I wanted to major in, my good and bad qualities and my role models. They asked me this weird question about what kind of tree I would be and why, and I said an evergreen because I would never lose leaves. I want to major in Biology. The scholarship means that I don’t have to pay for college, and this means that I can save up money for medical school, and they will give me money so that I can go study abroad.”

Jake Price 12: “I didn’t know this scholarship existed until I got the email inviting me to the interview. I wasn’t really interested into going to the [University of Arkansas] until they told me that I might be able to go for free. I was in the Boys and Girls Club staff bathroom when I found out that I had gotten the scholarship. Staff members are not supposed to be on their phones while working, so I went to the bathroom to check my email, and I didn’t read all of it, I just saw ‘Congratulations’ and I sent a picture to my mom. The interview wasn’t hard for me because they gave me the sample questions to prepare. The time leading up to the interview was super stressful though. I want to major in either Biology, Psychology, or Chemistry. I didn’t get asked the tree question. Going to their official website and having access to the sample questions helped a lot when it came to me preparing for the interview.”

Travis Cumming 12: “Tara Seale and Amy Oury told me about the Fellowship scholarship. I was torn about going to Fayetteville, because there is this school in Philadelphia called Temple University that I wanted to go to, but that’s a 13 hour plane ride and $40,000 a year. I liked Fayetteville overall. It’s pretty up there and it has the Devil’s Den [State Park], which is one of my driving factors for wanting to go there. I have a 33 on my ACT, which is how I qualified for the scholarship. I wouldn’t stop talking during my interview. I got asked about what cross-country and track meant to me, and from there I just started talking about everything that I do and everything that I wanted to do, like college ROTC. I was at the Credit Union with a friend who was signing up for student loans when I found out that I had gotten the scholarship. I opened the email and was like ‘Cool guys, I just got $70,000 dollars,’ and they freaked out. I want to be a Biology major, pre-med. I recommend that anyone who qualifies for this scholarship to go for it.”