Story by Hannah Kampitan, Co-Editor-in-Chief
Photo Courtesy of Cypress College Foundation
Applications for Cypress College’s Foundation Scholarships open March 14, 2025, and close mid-April for students. The foundation provides more than 300 scholarships annually for various disciplines: academics, leadership, community service, need-based, and more. The foundation gave away half a million dollars last year during the May 17, 2024 awards ceremony, and they expect more students this year to submit and utilize free writing support, such as the Cypress Writing Center and the Peer Tutoring Program.
Compared to last year’s application round, the scholarship application will be through new software to make the process easier for students to apply. The system is linked to Banner, so student information from MyGateway can transfer to the application swiftly. This also allows students to automatically be eligible for scholarships they qualify for, such as major-based scholarships.
Howard Kummerman, the executive director of the Cypress College Foundation, said that the funding they receive–to be able to offer scholarships in general–is from a variety of outlets, not just from the annual Americana Awards’ donations and silent auctions that the foundation hosts.
“We received $500,000 last year…we receive funding from a variety of sources, golf tournaments, individual donors that have funds within the program, and faculty and staff contributions…the college bookstore also gives us funding for scholarships. A lot of faculty throughout the college give,” he said.
Janet Vera, Dean of Language Arts at the college, said how helpful faculty members are with contributions, going through lengths such as payroll deductions: “The Foundation Office does an excellent job with organizing events like the Americana Awards to raise scholarship funds… Additionally, many of our Cypress faculty and staff contribute through payroll deductions and in various ways to support these scholarships.”
According to Kummerman, most of the scholarships are monetary dollar amounts, with the lowest being $300. The average monetary award is $500 to $1,000, with the highest being $5,000. However, there are some awards solely for purchases at the college bookstore. The bookstore has donated over $10,000 to the foundation.
The application itself requires a list of student extracurriculars and activities, a written response, and a letter of recommendation from a Cypress College faculty member or counselor.
Eric Vo, a second-year student majoring in Computer Science, won the $1,500 Golden State Water STEM Scholarship from his application last year.
“I took three days to complete my side of the application, but I would recommend at least a week to get feedback from counselors on your activities and essay,” Vo said. “I also recommend giving at least three weeks to give time for your selected faculty/counselor member to write you a letter of recommendation.”
According to Kummerman, over 60 faculty members are on the scholarship selection committee, and some applications are reviewed by the division that is supporting the specific scholarship.
Rachel Ghatikar, the Director of Development from the Cypress College Foundation office, said that students need the most help navigating the essay process: “[Students need help] writing a strong essay that really tells their story and helps the committee understand why they are the strongest candidate for scholarships,” she said.
Counselors at the Transfer Center are available to meet with students through appointment, but another free resource is the upcoming “Get Them Dollars, Scholars!” event hosted by the Peer Tutoring Program. The event will be on April 9 in the Humanities building from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Over seven peer tutors in the program, who were hired through letters of recommendation from English professors/faculty, will be present to meet with students to review, assist, and guide students with free pizza. The tutors will receive specific training from the Language Arts department to navigate the website and prepare.
Sabreen Hussain, a second-year political science major, was one of the peer tutors who helped students through last year’s “Get Them Dollars, Scholars!” event.
“Peer tutoring for the ‘Get Them Dollars, Scholars!’ event was a great experience because I was able to give students direct feedback and support on their scholarship applications. I mainly focused on making sure their writing was clear, compelling, and directly answered the prompt. I helped with structuring their personal statements and cutting unnecessary words…it was really rewarding to help them,” Hussain said.
As he reflects on past applications, a main takeaway for Kummerman was seeing a large number of students choose not to submit: “Sometimes students think they won’t get a scholarship, but there are so many types…every year there are students who start but don’t submit. You can’t be counted in if you don’t submit it. Don’t sell yourself short.”
Students should look out for an email from the foundation and campus communications during the second or third week of March to locate the direct link for the application.
