{"id":10920,"date":"2014-05-21T12:02:48","date_gmt":"2014-05-21T16:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/?p=10920"},"modified":"2014-05-21T12:02:48","modified_gmt":"2014-05-21T16:02:48","slug":"regional-foundations-award-futuremakers-students-incentives-to-encourage-high-school-seniors-to-fill-out-all-important-fafsa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/2014\/05\/21\/regional-foundations-award-futuremakers-students-incentives-to-encourage-high-school-seniors-to-fill-out-all-important-fafsa\/","title":{"rendered":"Regional Foundations award FutureMakers\u2019 students incentives to encourage high-school seniors to fill out all-important FAFSA"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Anne Douglas, Nicholas Owens, Wayne Smith and Ron Jones<\/em><\/p>\n

FORT MYERS, Fla. (May 21, 2014) \u2013 FutureMakers, a regional call to action initiated by the Southwest Florida Community Foundation<\/a>, recently awarded incentives to students as part of the FutureMakers \u201cFAFSA Challenge.\u201d The prizes were iPads and a college scholarship.<\/p>\n

Four-hundred and forty two high-school seniors at the FutureMakers\u2019 eight partner schools, including Cypress Lake, East Lee, Lehigh, Port Charlotte, Golden Gate, LaBelle and Clewiston high schools and Moore Haven Junior Senior High School were eligible for the drawings upon successful completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.<\/p>\n

The SWFLCF also joined the Smith Family Foundation in awarding a lucky high-school senior from Port Charlotte a $2,500 college scholarship.<\/p>\n

Nicholas Owens, 18, of Port Charlotte High School was the winner of the FutureMakers Smith Family Foundation scholarship drawing. Owens plans to attend Edison State College in the fall and major in criminal justice in order to pursue a career in law enforcement.<\/p>\n

The following students were the winners of the iPads: Griffin Janelli, Cypress Lake; Cynthia Auplant, East Lee; Bernie Homicil, Lehigh; Tyler Specht, Port Charlotte; Sherly Latortue, Golden Gate; Yoana Dominguez, LaBelle; Andrea Scott, Clewiston; and Barrion Cohens, Moore Haven Junior Senior High School.<\/p>\n

\u201cLess than one-third of high-school seniors in our five-county area fill out the FAFSA,\u201d said Sarah Owen, president and CEO of the SWFLCF. \u201cUnderstanding what type of financial aid is available and how much they may qualify for can make the difference between going to college or not. We figured a little extra encouragement would help the class of 2014 take its next step toward the educational opportunities that are available to them before graduation.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Florida College Access Network, it is estimated that during 2012, Florida\u2019s high-school graduates left behind more $100 million in Pell Grants by virtue of not completing the FAFSA form.<\/p>\n

\u201cEducation is a primary focus for our foundation, and we wanted to support the efforts of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation in this initiative because it is based on research with measurable results,\u201d said Wayne Smith of the Smith Family Foundation.<\/p>\n

FutureMakers is the Community Foundation\u2019s first regional call to action that began last year with a team of more than a dozen stakeholders. In addition to the Community Foundation, the coalition includes the Foundation for Lee County Public Schools, Southwest Florida Works, The Education Foundation of Collier County-Champions for Learning, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast, each representing the five-county region served by the SWFLCF which are Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Glades and Hendry counties.<\/p>\n

FutureMakers chose the eight regional high schools to partner with in 2014 due to the low percentage of seniors in those schools filling out the FAFSA in recent years. The coalition took an active role in aiding these schools\u2019 high-school seniors through one-on-one and group mentoring, FAFSA workshops, financial-aid application support and career coaching.<\/p>\n

Initial outcomes for FutureMakers in its inaugural year are very encouraging, as most of the participating schools have increased their FAFSA completion rate to since last year. This is especially significant given that in the 2013-2014 school year, students are no longer required to complete the FAFSA application in order to qualify for the State of Florida\u2019s Bright Futures scholarship program, which has led to decreased FAFSA completion rates at many other area high schools.<\/p>\n

According to the FCAN, of the school districts with only one participating high school (Charlotte and Collier counties), the two schools (Port Charlotte High School and Golden Gate High School) have the most improved FAFSA completion rates in their respective districts.<\/p>\n

All three participating Lee County high schools have the highest FAFSA completions rates in the school district. Of particular note is East Lee County High School, which had one of the lowest FAFSA completion rates in 2012-2013. As of April 25, 2014, East Lee had increased its annual FAFSA completion rate by 54 percent.<\/p>\n

The final results of the FutureMakers measurements will be available in July.<\/p>\n

Data released by the U.S. Department of Education show that just 37 percent of the working-age adult population in Florida has earned a two- or four-year degree. By 2018, 59 percent of all jobs in Florida will require a post-secondary education, and 1.6 million workers with post-secondary credentials will be needed to fill new and vacant jobs in Florida. College graduates earn twice what workers without degrees earn according to federal government figures.<\/p>\n

Founded in 1976, the Southwest Florida Community Foundation supports the communities of Lee, Charlotte, Collier, Glades and Hendry counties and also acts as the regional convener and leader with firsthand knowledge of community needs.\u00a0With assets of more than $75 million, the SWFLCF has provided more than $57 million in grants and scholarships to the communities it serves. During its 2013 fiscal year, the SWFLCF granted more than $4 million to more than 100 different organizations supporting education, animal welfare, arts, healthcare and human services.<\/p>\n

For more information about the SWFLCF, call 239-274-5900 or visit www.floridacommunity.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Anne Douglas, Nicholas Owens, Wayne Smith and Ron Jones<\/p>\n

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Tyler Specht and Anne Douglas (Port Charlotte High School)<\/p>\n

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Tracy Perkins, Griffin Janelli, Maria Baker and Katie Tanner (Cypress Lake High School)<\/p>\n

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Principal Jose Hernandez, Laura Santamaria, Sherly Latortue and Anne Douglas (Golden Gate High School)<\/p>\n

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Principal George Duckstein, Anne Douglas, Andrea Scott, Bill Roshon and Katherine Broughton (Clewiston High School)<\/p>\n

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Michele Avola-Reese, Bernie Homicil and Jackie Corey (Lehigh High School)<\/p>\n

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Kerwin Dixon, Yoana Dominguez, Bill Roshon and Anne Douglas (LaBelle High School)<\/p>\n

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Katie Tanner, Cynthia Auplant, Principal Brian Morgan and Carolyn Rogers (East Lee County High School)<\/p>\n

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Anne Douglas, Barrion Cohens, Korliss Hyatt and Bill Roshon (Moore Haven High School)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anne Douglas, Nicholas Owens, Wayne Smith and Ron Jones FORT MYERS, Fla. (May 21, 2014) \u2013 FutureMakers, a regional call to action initiated by the Southwest Florida Community Foundation, recently…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1],"tags":[12,1447,2731,318,1215,2732,1953,2733,1218,2734,2735,2736,59,2737,17,2738,1046,590,796,2739,1047,1297,366,2740,1868,19,861,21,2741,1931],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10920"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10920\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mcreativepr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}