Temani Beck, a junior majoring in education, used to sit in her high school classroom with her pen, paper and books, but she also kept a binder full of scholarship information.
With the help of that binder and a lot of essay submissions, Beck managed to accumulate more than $1 million in scholarship offers and awards after graduating from Ramsay High School in Birmingham.
“I remember saying that I wanted to give the information back to some deserving child, and be able to help somebody,” Beck said.
This led Beck to start a website, www.guidetoscholarships.org, to aid high school juniors and seniors, as well as undergraduate students in search of scholarships.
“I went home recently and found my binder,” she said. “I began to think how I could use this to help someone else because the information and programs are still valid, just the dates have changed.”
She said she began the site as a blog, but then she learned more about HTML coding to make it a website.
“My goal for this site is that if one person can be helped, I will be happy,” she said.
Stephen Black, director for the Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility, said Beck made the site entirely on her own.
“She has been so successful in securing an incredible amount of scholarship support from all different sources,” he said.
Beck said after she learned how to create the site, she reached out to Black and her high school counselor to help her become a resource for the students.
The difference from Beck’s site “Fran’s Guide to Scholarships,” and other scholarship sites, like Fastweb, is that there is a live person on the other end to help answer questions and give advice; a component of her website is that she is acting as a resource for students who need questions answered regarding things such as scholarship applications, college applications and interviewing.
“She is the perfect person to start a website and also to give advice that will help young people trying to figure out a way to afford college,” Black said.
Beck said that even at this stage when she is still just getting the word out, the site has had more than 800 hits in the first week and a half.
“There may be students who don’t know about college at all, or may not have a great counselor as a resource, but if they know about my site there is no excuse now,” she said. “This is what the website is for.”
In the long run, Beck said she wants to reach out to more schools and become a resource for them locally, and possibly become a resource for schools in the state.
The use of Beck’s website is free. The number for questions about scholarships is 1-877-515-GUIDE.
