March 23, 2007

News Release

College Finance Bus Stop Successful at John Tyler

            John Tyler High School students heard a powerful message Thursday, March 22, about preparing for college from Lilyan Prado, a first generation spokesperson with the Sallie Mae Fund.  Two workshops were held in the morning.  The students were given a college planning guide that has a master checklist, a college prep timeline (beginning in the 9^th grade), how to get to college, how to pay for college, and a glossary of the terms used in the college application and financial aid arenas. 

Freshman, Moises Lara, and sophomore, Shelby Fields each received a $250.00 scholarship awarded by the Sallie Mae Fund.  A drawing was held at the end of each workshop to award the scholarships.

The Sallie Mae bus was open for tours during each lunch period where additional students could visit with the bus tour guides and receive literature about how to prepare for and how to pay for college. 

The Sallie Mae Fund, a charitable organization sponsored by Sallie Mae^®, achieves its mission—to increase access to higher education for America's students.  Their bus tour made a stop in Tyler to visit with more than 500 students.  John Tyler is one of 50 stops across the nation that benefited from this initiative.

Partners in education from UT Tyler, Child Protective Services Case worker(s), and parents were also in attendance for this event at John Tyler High School.   

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