Spartan Scholarship
Challenge: a present that
changes the future
Three questions for Jim Cotter, director of admissions
1 What makes
Spartans helping Spartans—it's part of Michigan State
Michigan State
available. For comparison, students should develop a
University unique?
personal list of factors and characteristics and begin to
University's DNA. In fact, many MSU students would
Put very simply, Michigan
not be on campus today without the generosity of
State is an institution that
those who came before them.
makes a difference. MSU
students, faculty, staff, and
Now, MSU alumni and friends are stepping up to
alumni have an outstanding
create a new generation of scholarships through the
reputation for making
Spartan Scholarship Challenge matching gift program.
Thanks to an anonymous donor who directed
$7 million of a larger gift toward scholarships at MSU,
Ilycia Shaw
Sophomore, Hospitality
Business
Detroit
"During my freshman year of
high school, an illness forced
my mother into early
retirement. A scholarship
was the only option. I found
that MSU has some of the
best scholarship programs
available for hard-working,
determined students!"
Jim Cotter
substantial and significant
contributions worldwide.
Being a member of the Spartan family means
the Spartan Scholarship
becoming part of something big. From the nation's
Challenge was created to
top-ranked study abroad program, to unparalleled
maximize scholarship gifts.
opportunities to work directly with professors
From now through December
conducting undergraduate research, to connecting
31, 2010, for every two dollars
with more than 420,000 living alumni around the globe,
a donor gives to create a new
students who decide to study at Michigan State have
scholarship endowment, one
limitless options for customizing and expanding their
dollar will be added from the
education, as well as the chance to be part of a
anonymous gift.
university that boasts global impact and reach.
Through the Spartan
1) When should a student begin to think about
Scholarship Challenge, MSU
hopes to turn the $7 million
anonymous gift into
$21 million in endowed
scholarship funds that will
benefit Michigan State
students in perpetuity. As many as 1,000 students
would receive a Spartan Scholarship of at least $1,000
research the different higher education opportunities
preparing for college?
evaluate institutions based on the features that are
most important to them. Once students have done
some preliminary research and comparison, they
should begin to take part in campus visit programs and
see firsthand what different institutions have to offer.
The bottom line is that it's never too early to begin
planning for college.
How does Michigan State prepare students for
success and life after graduation?
At Michigan State, the retention rate from freshman
year to sophomore year is about 92 percent. This can
be attributed to several factors, including an
abundance of campus resources designed to help
students succeed inside and outside the classroom. A
key pillar of MSU's tradition is rooted in the practical
application of knowledge. So whether students are
planning to start their careers upon graduation or
continue their education beyond college, they are well
served by having attained an MSU education. For those
electing to continue their education, MSU offers
Ideally, college preparation should begin prior to
enrolling in high school. Prospective college applicants
should prepare by taking a high school curriculum that
is rich in math, English, the sciences, and humanities, as
well as a foreign language. During the high school
years, students and parents would be wise to begin to
several educational options, including the Graduate
School, the MSU College of Law, and medical school.
MSU is the only university in the country with three
on-campus medical schools, graduating allopathic
(MD) and osteopathic (DO) physicians, as well as
veterinarians (DVMs). 0
per year.
The match will apply to gifts of up to $1 million per
Notes from Israel continued
donor and is available until the anonymous gift has
Metula has all the trappings of
been exhausted or the end of the year.
On the northern edge, a cluster
an alpine village, but it is an
of apple trees grows around
alpine village with Middle
the remnants of a rusted
Eastern style. It has ice hockey
machine gun bunker dug into
and mountains, but it is
the rocky soil in some earlier
surrounded on three sides by
war. To the west, orchards form
Lebanon and bordered by
a vast agricultural buffer zone
barbed wire, electric fences,
in the deep valley between
During the match opportunity, donors who make a
commitment of $20,000 or more will have the
opportunity to create a
permanent scholarship in
their name or the name of
someone they wish to honor.
and minefields. An apocryphal
Commitments to the
challenge can be paid over
the period ending December
31, 2014.
To learn more and to
contribute to the Spartan
Scholarship Challenge, visit
givingto.msu.edu/ssc or
contact Jennifer Bertram,
director of development for
University Scholarships and
Fellowships, at
(517) 432-7332. 0
story told in town is that
Christopher Matthes
Sophomore, Engineering
Bloomfield Hills
"I love being at a large,
well-respected university that
has an endless supply of
opportunities educationally
and socially. There is no value
one can put on having access
to MSU's state-of-the-art
facilities and top-of-the-line
faculty. The scholarship I
received eased the burden of
tuition costs and allowed me
to have less stress about how
I will pay for college."
Metula residents can sit on their
Metula, a small town in the green mountains of
northern Israel, is known for ice hockey, a poetry
festival, and apple orchards.
patios, eat dinner, and watch the Hezbollah.
Metula and a Lebanese village
perched on the opposing
hillside.
Maybe the apple will someday serve as a symbol of
As the sun rises over the mountains of Lebanon to
hope for this region; earlier in the year, Israel
the east, soldiers in an army Humvee slowly patrol
exported more than seven tons of apples to Syria,
the perimeter, looking for footprints in the carefully
an act of cooperation designed to help Druze apple
manicured sand around the fences. Around town,
growers in the Golan Heights and drought-stricken
bomb shelters decorated with artwork stand like
apple consumers in Syria.
sentinels, ready to serve and protect in the event of
a missile attack from the other side of the border.
With ice hockey, bountiful apple groves, and a cool
breeze in my face, I could easily be back in
Inside and outside the perimeter, Thai workers tend
Michigan—without the threat of rockets from
acres and acres of apple trees, which thrive in the
nearby Indiana. 0
cool, moist climate of this region.