| I agree with SevenNights and SchoolTime. The one issue I don't hear discussed much with these full merit awards is--not simply the money involved (which is subtantial)--but the prestige and honor given to a student who receives one of these truly fine awards. This is serious recognition of all that a student has accomplished and, yes, definitely an "investment" in that student's future. Also, I think that it's one thing to be accepted at a "selective" school with a thousand + others, but quite another to be singled out and recognized (and rewarded) for years of hard work, dedication to academics, causes and passions, and for true leadership--those attributes which will not end when one graduates from high school. My own daughter remembers being in a class in middle school, where a teacher told the students that "you want to be so outstanding throughout your school years that colleges pay YOU to come to their school, not the other way around." Yes. And why not. |