Earlier this month, the Manitou Springs Educational Foundation announced their scholarship winner and their vocational scholarship winner. Mahalia Henshel (12) won the MSEF business alliance scholarship Colton Sherraden (12) won the vocational scholarship. Henshel plans to attend CSU Fort Collins with a major in international business organizational management and a minor in leadership.  Sherraden is studying Diesel Power Mechanics and going to PPCC.

“College is very expensive and I have to pay for it myself, the scholarships really help,” said Henschel.

CSU Fort collins’ tuition, not including supplies or fees, is $7,868. Including fees is another $2,029,. PPCC is $14,000 a year, with $2,000 in fees. The average cost to live on a college campus in the United States is $10,000. “Out of the 121 students, 3% of the ones we know got scholarships. That’s three people having a full ride to college. That is quite rare,” said Nicole Vancil, a counselor at Manitou Springs High School.

While Sherraden only applied for the vocational scholarship, Henschel applied for 10 scholarships this year. In total, she applied for the Kiwanis, CSU mass application, MSEF and seven other small scholarships. Out of 50 seniors, only 19 applied for a scholarship this year. On average, only 13% of high school seniors will apply for a scholarship.

The requirements to apply for the scholarship was a minimum GPA of 2.5 and school and community involvement. 21% of the senior class has a GPA of 3.75 or higher, 0.05% has a GPA of 3.5 to 3.6 and 73% have a GPA of 3.4 or lower. Most seniors will graduate with a GPA of 3.1.

Henshel has volunteered at eight events and places in the past year. She also served as class president for her freshman through junior class and Student Body President for the 2015-2016 school year. Only 10 seniors applied to be in student council this year.