Top State High School Seniors to Compete for Presidential Scholarship

West Virginia’s top high school seniors have the opportunity to compete for Fairmont State University’s premier academic scholarship, the Dr. Charles J. McClain Presidential Scholarship.

For the third consecutive year, FSU will award its most prestigious scholarship to three of the state’s top students. The competitive scholarship includes tuition and fees, room and board and a book stipend. The application deadline is Feb. 15, 2011. For more information or to apply, students should visit www.fairmontstate.edu/presidentialscholarship.

 “Fairmont State University provides high-achieving students with the tools they need to channel their motivation into successful lives,” said Lori Schoonmaker, Interim Associate Director of Admissions and Recruitment. “We’re excited to be able to reward students for their hard work in high school.”

Presidential Scholarship winners for 2010 were honored in May 2010 at the Academic Awards Celebration. Lillian Gaylord, a graduate of Martinsburg High School in Martinsburg, is majoring in Secondary Education: Language & Literature at FSU. Kaitlyn Martin, a graduate of Petersburg High School in Maysville, is majoring in Pre-medicine at FSU. Sarah Queen, a graduate of Robert C. Byrd High School in Clarksburg, is majoring in Secondary Education: Language & Literature at FSU.

All applicants are eligible to participate in the Honors Program, which provides students with the opportunity to deepen their academic experience through smaller classes taught by some of the University’s finest faculty, field trips in the United States and abroad and extracurricular activities on and off campus. Students in the Honors Program may elect to live in the Robert M. Grattan Honors Residence in Bryant Place.

“Honors students find that studying and socializing with other like-minded students helps them to make the most of their university experience,” said Dr. J. Robert Baker, Director of the Honors Program.                                                     

To compete for the Presidential Scholarship, named by the FSU Board of Governors in honor of Dr. Charles J. McClain who served as FSU’s interim president from 2008-2009, students must meet the following criteria:

• Be a high school senior.
• Live in West Virginia.
• Have a cumulative high school GPA of 3.5.
• Have an ACT composite score of 26 or SAT composite score of 1190 (excluding writing score).
• Be a PROMISE Scholarship recipient.
• Submit a Charles J. McClain Presidential Scholarship application (including a 450-word essay about how the scholarship would help the student achieve his or her educational goal).
• Complete an FSU admissions file (general application, high school transcript, test scores).
• Participate in an on-campus interview.

For more information, visit www.fairmontstate.edu/presidentialscholarship or call (800) 641-5678 or (304) 367-4892.

Lori SchoonmakerCharles J. McClain Presidential Scholarship