Jack Hanson
Student Life Editor
The Administrative Staff Association is helping raise money for scholarships offered to students. The Association is one of the many groups on campus made up of faculty and staff from different departments who help the school and students.
The Association hosted a Chili Cook-off in the student center on Feb. 20 to help raise funds for the President Promise scholarship.
Representatives from Health and Wellness, Keene State Dining, the office of Multicultural Student Support and Success and many more were there with home-made chili to sell. A chili tasting was available for $1, a bowl of chili for $5, and bakery goods for $2.
Hunter Kirschner, Program Support Assistant for LGBTQ Students in the office of Multicultural Student Support and Success, said it was a great decision to put the money raised into scholarship funds.
“We’ve been talking about it for a while and this semester we finally decided to do something… When we were discussing where the funds we raise should go, yes, the scholarship that Melinda Treadwell started seemed wonderful and a great way to give back to our students and fulfill their missions at college,” Kirschner said.
Vice President of Student Affairs Kemal Atkins said higher education has become very expensive and scholarships could help make college available to more students.
“We have populations of students who are coming, not even to Keene State, that are going to college all across the country don’t have the household means to pay for college themselves. The scholarship opportunities that are available whether they are based on need or merit or the combination of the two helps reduce the cost of higher education,” Atkins said. “If you don’t have to work and worry about finances, then students can focus on studying and getting the most out of the experience they have here on campus, inside and outside of the classroom.”
Sophomore Isaac Keehn said although he doesn’t need scholarships, they are a great help to him.
“I have a scholarship for Sustainable Product Design, and there is a certain amount I’m being granted each year over the next four years and that’s helping me to stay here,” Keehn said. “But I would still be able to come to Keene if I didn’t.”
Although he thinks the intention was great, sophomore Jack Farley thinks events like this need to happen more and be more planned out.
“It wasn’t advertised that well. I think if you really want to help out the students it needs to be advertised more. There were no flyers, posters, no emails or whatever. No one really knew it was happening and it’s just kind of barren. But it’s a really good attempt and they should do more stuff like this,” Farley said.
Atkins also encourages students to look out for more events put on by the Administrative Staff Association like the Chili Cook-Off.
If any students would like to learn more about scholarships, information can be found on the scholarships and grants page on Keene’s official website.
The KSC Annual Gift and endowed Scholarship application is available now through the deadline Monday April 15, 2019.
Jack Hanson can be contacted at
jhanson@kscequinox.com.
