They are in seventh grade and already working hard to make sure their future looks bright when it comes to pursuing higher education.
On this Episode of the Supercast, we take you to a STEM My529 Scholarship awards dinner where some young students received $500 for their college savings accounts. Find out what the students did to earn the scholarships and how the accounts will help their families start building funds to pay for future enrollment in colleges, universities, or trade schools.
Audio Transcription
Bruce Cutler:
Kids who had even just a small scholarship, small money set aside for college, were something like 50-60% greater chance of going to college than if they didn't.
Anthony Godfrey:
We can all look back and identify someone who really believed in us and helped us get to where we are and this is an incredible example of someone investing in a student they may not even know very well early on to help them achieve their best possible success.
Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are in seventh grade and already working hard to make sure their future looks bright when it comes to pursuing higher education. On this episode of the Supercast, we take you to a STEM My 529 Scholarship Awards dinner where some young students received $500 for their college savings accounts. Find out what the students did to earn the scholarships and how the accounts will help their families start building funds to pay for future enrollment in colleges, universities, or trade schools.
Anthony Godfrey:
We are here at the Jordan Learning Center talking about tonight's banquet and Bruce, I would like you to introduce yourself and talk about this event which you started years ago.
Bruce Cutler:
I did. Bruce Cutler, I was a software developer all of my, well, all of my major career life, graduated in computer science University of Utah and had some good jobs here in Utah and then became a member of the Jordan Education Foundation Board. Before that, I was a member of the Utah State Legislature and when I was up there, I was particularly interested in working with those in poverty. I was involved with the Intergenerational Poverty Commission, the group who's trying to stop poverty by stopping the advance of children into poverty that not following their parents. One of the studies that was done and I think it was done out of California as I recall, but one of the things that they discovered was that kids who had even just a small scholarship, small money set aside for college, were something like 50-60 percent greater chance of going to college than if they didn't. And so I thought, gee, at that point I was actually on the Canyons Foundation Board, and we actually started this in Canyons before I moved out here. But it was a concept is give a kid who's in the seventh grade, they've still got six years of school, well five years because they're graduating from then, and then give them a small scholarship and it put into the 529 Plan where it can take care of the investing of that and say, you know, “Here's some money set aside for you at this early age so that you can go to college.” You have to get some kind of post-high school education and of course we didn't know, we don't know. I don't think where first group has gotten through yet. I think they may be seniors now but I'm not sure. Yeah. So we thought we'd just try it out and we'll see whether it actually happens or not, but so far.
Anthony Godfrey:
That's right, that's right. Now for those who may not understand, will you describe what a My 529 Account does?
Bruce Cutler:
My 529 Account is a state, is a national, a federal program and it allows parents particularly, to be able to invest money and set it aside for use of post-high school education. And so the My 529 is the Utah portion of that, the Utah-based portion of the 529 and so they invested in various and sundry investments so that by the time these kids are ready to go to college, it's there for them and they can use it on any kind of post-high school education.
Anthony Godfrey:
So you have sought donors to essentially sponsor a student's education in seventh grade.
Bruce Cutler:
Yep.
Anthony Godfrey:
So instead of waiting to see if they did well, you invest in them early on to help ensure that they do well because they know, hey there's someone outside of my family who has no expectation to cheer for me that has invested, literally invested in me and I better live up to that.
Bruce Cutler:
Yep. It's kind of the story of planting a tree that somebody else is gonna sit in the shade of. So we're investing this money in these kids and we don't know whether they're gonna do well or not, but analysis has proven that yeah they will, they will do well and they will go on and get some kind of post-high school education. I was talking to a friend of mine who was just a daughter was one of the first recipients and he says, “Yeah, when I was talking to my daughter initially she wanted to go into some kind of beauty school but then she got this scholarship.” She says, “Well, maybe I do want to consider going into some kind of a technology instead,” and so she changed her direction and so we'll see.
Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah. That's already a great result, hearing that it has had such an impact on her and when you think about it most of us don't want to let people down. We want to live up to people's expectations, and we know that teacher expectations are a key element of a student's success. If the teacher expects you to learn and expects you to do well and has high expectations, high standards, then students are much more likely to rise to those and I think this is a monetary version of that where it's and it's the community it's why I talk about a lot with the Foundation, that when it's someone outside of your family, outside of the organization that's cheering for you that's not really required to as a part of their job or as their family responsibility just they believe in these students and they are investing in the community I think it goes a very long way.
Bruce Cutler:
Absolutely.
Anthony Godfrey:
Why do you think seventh grade is the right time to invest in students like this?
Bruce Cutler:
Well, they're out of elementary school they're into middle school or into junior high school and so it's a different environment now and they're now starting to say, “Oh okay this is this is real.” I've got elementary school, you just get through it but now I'm getting into middle school or into junior high and so they're starting to think just a little bit different but there's so many challenges between the point of seventh grade before they get into high school and tenth grade that can come along and derail them. It's best to catch them when they're first into that middle school junior high age and get them thinking about it that they hadn't even thought of before. So the better the sooner we catch them once they're into that middle school then the chances are pretty good they're gonna stick with it.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well in middle school they're trying to create their identity they're making choices and they are starting to look more toward the future. They start to see, “oh, the five-year calendar includes my graduation date so maybe I need to start thinking about things.” So often we are really just trying to help students imagine what they could achieve and reach for something beyond just what's right in front of them and I think this is an incredible way of doing that. I've had the opportunity to speak to these groups and I love we're at the banquet tonight, the dinner where we kind of launch that and honor those who are receiving the scholarship and it's a parent or parents with the student and I love seeing the family's reaction to this. What family reactions have you seen over the years and what reactions have you heard from donors?
Bruce Cutler:
I think one of the things that I've seen is parents who say, “You know, I never went to college and to see my daughter or my son now having the money set aside to go to college, something I never did, I couldn't do. But now I can see my daughter or my son being able to do what I always wanted to do.” That's a great thing, great progress.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well for those who've watched The Office this is the opposite of Scott's Tots where he promises to pay for their college and then does not deliver. This is a promise that sticks and it's not paying for all of college but like you said it's a scholarship that gives that bump, that rocket fuel as I like to say, to say, “Hey, wait a minute, people believe in me and they want me to do well and they're supporting that.”
Bruce Cutler:
That's right.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, Bruce, I can't thank you enough. I was so excited to hear that you were gonna be here tonight and I get to talk with you.
Bruce Cutler:
Well thank you. It's always good to talk to you. Although you're not on our board at this point, you've been a huge impact and I always thank you I've been impressed with how eager you were for opportunities. I remember on numerous occasions you talking to me saying, “We can do more, how else can we get into schools?” So thank you for being so dedicated for so many years.
Bruce Cutler:
My pleasure, thank you very much.
Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us when we come back more with the people associated with the STEM My 529 Scholarship awards.
Male Voice:
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Female Voice:
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Anthony Godfrey:
Talking now with a principal in our district and a student who have seen the impact of this My 529 program. Introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about the impact you've seen from this.
Spencer Campbell:
My name is Spencer Campbell. I'm the principal of Kelsey Peak Virtual Middle School and one of the things that I've seen helps students and helps them grow is a lot of students have aptitude for technology or robotics or CTE and the scholarship, the 529 scholarship, helps them on that path and so as they move through middle school onto high school whether it's J Tech or another program it helps them fund that potential college funding when they get to college and it really helps kids in their passion which is usually in the CTE field.
Alex Rose:
My name is Alex Rose. I am a student at Kelsey Peak. I am very interested in computers. I love working with my hands, seeing how things work, coding. I love technology, and like I said earlier, working with my hands.
Anthony Godfrey:
What do you like about being at Kelsey Peak?
Alex Rose:
Oh, I love being asynchronous at Kelsey Peak because it helps me work at my own pace, because I do have some problems, and public school was really difficult for me. So it's great to be at Kelsey Peak where I can work at my own pace.
Anthony Godfrey:
Fantastic. What does it mean to have someone invest in you through this scholarship?
Alex Rose:
Honestly, pretty exciting because and also a little scary, because it's great. Don't get me wrong I love this that someone has like seen that I could probably do something great, but also it's kind of scary now that I have their expectations laying on my shoulders.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well I think you're gonna do a very, very good job with the help of Kelsey Peak and some great teachers and administrators, and counselors along the way. You know what you love, and you're working hard toward it, so I think that's awesome and I love that someone sees that in you already, that you have this potential like you said to do something great. So congratulations on receiving this.
Alex Rose:
Thank you. Thank you a lot. It means a lot to me.
Anthony Godfrey:
Mr. Campbell tell us what it means to have someone outside of the organization and outside of a student's family believe in them and literally invest in them so early.
Spencer Campbell:
I think it's absolutely fantastic not only as a parent but as a principal and we can find our students strengths and then reward them for the things that they are good at especially when it's an academic content or something that might go under the radar a little bit. I think it's great that you know people donate to the 529 and then we can have them build into that program when they get to college and their future path.
Anthony Godfrey:
What would you say to those who are considering whether they want to donate or whether they would want to be part of a program like this?
Spencer Campbell:
Just do it. You're gonna bless kids’ lives and I think that every student that is here tonight has shown a passion in a different aptitude whether that's coding or technology or robotics or you know other areas in CTE. You're helping build the future for students that will end up changing the world in those fields which is super awesome to think about but also know on the backend that you've donated to that progress and the future.
Anthony Godfrey:
We can all look back and identify someone who really believed in us and helped us get to where we are. This is an incredible example of someone investing in a student they may not even know very well early on to help them achieve their best possible success. Tell me, you talked about what you're interested in, what do you want to do as a career?
Alex Rose:
Oh boy there's a lot that I want to do such as things like welding and forging sounds very fun to do, like it would help me work with my hands and things. Also, coding or working with computers. It would also be great like a developer of some kind that gets to work with code and sees what you make come to life. That's just really cool to see.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well you have a lot of opportunities ahead of you and even more with this My 529 scholarship. Thank you both for talking with me and we'll see out there.
Both:
Thank you.
Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, “Education is the most important thing you'll do today!” We'll see out there.