2008 Woodie Awards
Achievement through Commitment to Education
Program helps high school students to enter AC or WT
Samantha Castanuela
Issue date: 10/5/06 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Many students who attend Amarillo College and West Texas A&M University depend on a program called Achievement through Commitment to Education.
ACE is a scholarship program that helps college students pay to attend AC or WT.
It is not offered to all students who attend high school in Amarillo.
"ACE is only for students who attend Caprock or Palo Duro High School," said Leigh Neely, ACE coordinator at Palo Duro.
"If the student attends Tascosa or Amarillo High School, the students are not eligible."
Some Amarillo residents believe the ACE restrictions are fair to students.
"All students should have ACE available to them," said Lawrence Quintana of Amarillo, the father of ACE students.
Just because you go to a school that is located in a wealthier area shouldn't mean a student can't be offered ACE."
"It would have been so much easier if I was offered ACE, but there was nothing I could do about it," said Delores Cazares. "It's just not fair. I worked hard, too, and now I have to have a full-time job and go to school."
It isn't like the Amarillo Independent School District decides who can and can't have ACE; there is more to it than that.
"The only reason CHS and PDHS students receive the ACE Scholarship program is that the money is from private donors," Neely said. "They have chosen these schools because of the large economic disadvantages."
Not only does ACE give money to attend college, but it does many other things to help students.
"ACE also helps their students fill out other scholarships, register for college, fill out the FASFA, and they can take the Accuplacer on campus," Neely said.
"I like the fact that they introduce ACE in elementary school," Quintana said. "This allows college to be put into their minds at an early age even if they can't quite grasp the idea."
ACE coordinators are running into one problem.
"The only problem that we are having is getting freshmen to understand the importance of ACE and how important it is for them to attend college," Neely said. "The students figure that they are only in the ninth grade, so why do they care about college right now?"
-----------
ACE rules
Once a student passes the first requirement (attending PDHS or CHS) there are some other requirements that the students must meet all four years of high school to qualify for the ACE program:
• Sign as a freshman along with their parents/guardians and re-sign annually while in high school. Their yearly signatures indicate a commitment to put forth the effort to meet the scholarship requirements.
• Remain continuously enrolled at Palo Duro or Caprock until graduation.
• Graduate from Palo Duro or Caprock within four years.
• Graduate from Palo Duro or Caprock with a minimum of the following: 80 grade point average, 95 percent attendance rate. (All absences count, including excused.)
• Maintain appropriate behavior while in high school.
• Apply for and complete admission, financial aid and scholarship requirements at Amarillo College and/or WTAMU.
ACE is a scholarship program that helps college students pay to attend AC or WT.
It is not offered to all students who attend high school in Amarillo.
"ACE is only for students who attend Caprock or Palo Duro High School," said Leigh Neely, ACE coordinator at Palo Duro.
"If the student attends Tascosa or Amarillo High School, the students are not eligible."
Some Amarillo residents believe the ACE restrictions are fair to students.
"All students should have ACE available to them," said Lawrence Quintana of Amarillo, the father of ACE students.
Just because you go to a school that is located in a wealthier area shouldn't mean a student can't be offered ACE."
"It would have been so much easier if I was offered ACE, but there was nothing I could do about it," said Delores Cazares. "It's just not fair. I worked hard, too, and now I have to have a full-time job and go to school."
It isn't like the Amarillo Independent School District decides who can and can't have ACE; there is more to it than that.
"The only reason CHS and PDHS students receive the ACE Scholarship program is that the money is from private donors," Neely said. "They have chosen these schools because of the large economic disadvantages."
Not only does ACE give money to attend college, but it does many other things to help students.
"ACE also helps their students fill out other scholarships, register for college, fill out the FASFA, and they can take the Accuplacer on campus," Neely said.
"I like the fact that they introduce ACE in elementary school," Quintana said. "This allows college to be put into their minds at an early age even if they can't quite grasp the idea."
ACE coordinators are running into one problem.
"The only problem that we are having is getting freshmen to understand the importance of ACE and how important it is for them to attend college," Neely said. "The students figure that they are only in the ninth grade, so why do they care about college right now?"
-----------
ACE rules
Once a student passes the first requirement (attending PDHS or CHS) there are some other requirements that the students must meet all four years of high school to qualify for the ACE program:
• Sign as a freshman along with their parents/guardians and re-sign annually while in high school. Their yearly signatures indicate a commitment to put forth the effort to meet the scholarship requirements.
• Remain continuously enrolled at Palo Duro or Caprock until graduation.
• Graduate from Palo Duro or Caprock within four years.
• Graduate from Palo Duro or Caprock with a minimum of the following: 80 grade point average, 95 percent attendance rate. (All absences count, including excused.)
• Maintain appropriate behavior while in high school.
• Apply for and complete admission, financial aid and scholarship requirements at Amarillo College and/or WTAMU.
Be the first to comment on this story