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.