ORANGE, Texas — A one year scholarship changed the life of three current student ambassadors, and Lamar State College Orange wants to offer this opportunity to Southeast Texas students who qualify.
Christian Salinas is a student ambassador for LCSO , and she says that the program helped her immeasurably.
"My plan was to you know, work and study at the same time, so I was able to pay it off but thanks to the program I'm able to mostly focus entirely on my school," Salinas told 12News.
According to Salinas, the student ambassador program also opened her eyes to life on campus.
"When your homeschooled you don't really know a lot of what's going on. You don't know what's in front of you, like what schools are offering so being able to be on campus and know everybody through the program helps a lot," Salinas said.
The Student Ambassador Program is offered to high school seniors and pays for one year of college tuition and even books.
"The student ambassador program, is a leadership program here at Lamar State College Orange and it involves high school seniors in the top 25% of their class," Robyn Burdette, LSCO Associate Dean Of Student Services told 12 news.
While working for the program, students participate in college networking events, community service hours, career building workshops and mingle with employers.
"They get to be apart of those events and talk with them. They really get an opportunity to tell them about the program and about the college," Burdette said.
Jamey Flores said that the program has changed her life.
"I come from a working class family. No one in my family has ever went to college," Flores said, "But through this scholarship I was able to not only complete my first year of college, but I got to do it in a very like involved way."
For student ambassador Carolyn Wilhite, the networking has been her favorite part of the program.
"I like being apart of it and being able to actually like work tables, help people, and make them feel comfortable," Wilhite said.
This scholarship is open to all high school seniors including homeschooled kids as long as they have a letter of recommendation. The deadline to apply is midnight on February 28th.
You can apply for the scholarship here.