We are also in FL. A bit on the Jefferson Scholarship experience - Our region had something like 60 schools. They narrowed it down to about 30 and invited them to a mixer (with parents). Think of it as a cocktail party without cocktails. The foundations’ trustees mingled with the kids, they gave a presentation about UVA, etc. The trustees were all quite successful individuals; partners in law firms, bankers, authors, etc. I was quite amazed at how much detail they knew about the kids. Several of them came up to my son and said, “So you’re the kid who did X or wrote about y”. Very cool and important way to ease the nerves of these kids as that weekend they all had panel interviews in the board room of one of the Trustees’ law firm downtown. So a panel of successful adults will be interviewing your daughter and gauging who she is (not just grades, but leadership, community, passions, etc. )
Anecdotally, the first question they asked my son was to describe his favorite vacation. He said, “That’s easy, my first trip to Fenway Park” as he’s a huge Red Sox fan. The panel leader deadpanned him and said, “this isn’t going to go well as I used to work for the Steinbrenners in the Yankee organization”. Fortunately he laughed after a lengthy pause.
It’s that type of thing. Very good practice for the future.