Congratulations Dalt!!

When Dalton started high school, he decided that he wanted to graduate not only with his high school diploma, but also an Associates Degree from UVSC. He took more than a dozen college classes while still taking his required high school classes. He even had to take some college classes before and after school to complete all the requirements to get the degree he wanted. While he was participating in concurrent enrollment and distance education classes from the college, he heard about a scholarship he might be interested in. The New Century Scholarship is a state funded scholarship awarded by the state's Office of Higher Education only to those students who graduate high school, along with their associates degree, with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better. So Dalt decided that he would try his hardest to get this scholarship.

In 11th grade he started taking a class called Math 1050 which is college algebra. He decided that his class load was a little heavy so he dropped the class 2 weeks into the semester. Unfortunately, the math department at the college didn't process his paperwork until 4 weeks after the start of the semester. This meant that he would have to take a failing grade in the class and because of "policy" the department couldn't do anything about it. This took a hit on his scholarship goal. But he just kept pushing.

In 12th grade he continued as planned and registered again for the Math 1050 class. He took the class and struggled alot, but he didn't give up and passed the class. Unfortunately his grade was a little low and he felt that with this grade and the failing grade from the previous year he might not stand a chance at getting his degree let alone the scholarship he had been working so hard for. After some of the longest weeks of his life Final Grades were posted online and he learned that he had met the requirements to recieve his Associates Degree. UVSC had been in the process of developing University status. Its new name would soon be UVU, Utah Valley University. If Dalt waited an extra week for his actual printed degree to arive, he could be among one of the very first students to have the name Utah Valley University printed on his degree. So he did.

Life went on. He was among only a handful of students in his class who graduated with his Associates. He worked at Big O Tires until January, when he started school again at UVU. He wasn't sure if he had qualified for The New Century Scholarship but he decided to apply for it anyway. He sent the papers in and a week later (Wednesday of this week) in the mail he recieved a letter from the Utah Office of Higher Education saying that they were pleased to inform him that he had been awarded a scholarship that would pay 75% of 60 college credits. That is basically the equivalent of $45,000!!!! He did it! He has accomplished what he has been trying so hard to do the passed 3 years! I am so proud of him! He has done an amazing job and accomplished so much as a high school student! Congratulations Dalton!