By Amanda Estes

Staff Writer

    September is back to school time for students of all
ages and this fall, a South Portland organization hopes to raise enough
funds to make higher education a more feasible goal for all South
Portland High School graduates.

    On Monday, the city council proclaimed September to be South Portland Project Scholarship (SPPS) Month.

    The goal of the SPPS organization is to raise
$20,000 in order to form a partnership with the Maine Community
Foundation toward the goal of providing a $2,000 scholarship for each
of the first two years of post-secondary education for every South
Portland graduate.

    “Eighty-five percent of the 2007 graduates of the
high school planned to pursue post-secondary education, however we were
only able to financially recognize 100 of these 188 students and this
figure includes booster club scholarships,” said SPPS’s Volunteer
Coordinator Ralph Cabana. “Each year the number of students applying
for scholarships increases, yet the amount of available money
decreases.”

    Carmita McCoy, a SPPS committee member and mother of
a soon to be South Portland High School senior, has over the last three
years helped to coordinate college visits for sophomores to private,
four year schools, public universities and two year community colleges.


    Through a MELMAC grant, McCoy said students were
able to learn about the curriculums and programs at five different
schools in northern Maine, southern Maine, central Maine, New Hampshire
and the Boston area.   

    “For the students these have opened their eyes to
the possibilities of a post-secondary education and where they may fit
in which in some cases many students have not considered before,” she
said.

    Jake Viola, a committee member and a soon to be
junior at South Portland High, attended a college visit in April.

    Addressing the council, Viola said, “Imagine with me
that every college bound graduate of South Portland High School is
awarded, in addition to their diploma, a scholarship for the first two
years of their post secondary education.”

    “What better gift could we give our graduates than financial aid for their college aspirations?” he added.

    The council applauded the organization’s efforts to promote higher education for all students.

    “I think it’s so important that we as a community
say higher education is important and that is one of the messages that
comes with this $2,000 grant,” said Maxine Beecher. “What it says to
that individual is, ‘I trust you and this community stands behind you.’”

    For more information about SPSS visit:

www.spsd.org/projectscholarship or call South Portland High School at 767-3266.