This summer is the time for high school juniors to start looking for college scholarships and grants

Student studying at desk
Photo: Kojo Kwarteng/Unsplash
StatePoint Media - More than half of American families used scholarships to pay for college last year. From merit-based to artistic-focused, there are a variety of awards available.

High school senior Grace Vaughn of Trinity, Florida, knows how to successfully secure a college scholarship. After winning the $10,000 dress grand prize in Duck brand’s Stuck at Prom Scholarship Contest in 2022, Vaughn is sharing helpful tips to increase students’ odds of earning funds for college:

Research, research, research

Search databases and websites to discover award options that may be new to you. Scholarships.com, FastWeb and Bold.org are resources to help narrow down opportunities that match your interests and unique talents. Vaughn also encourages students to leverage social media, where she discovered the Stuck at Prom contest, which challenges teens to create Duck Tape prom creations for a chance to win cash scholarships.

In addition to researching national opportunities, check in with your school counselor and teachers to learn about any local or regional scholarships that are offered through the school or other nearby organizations.

Apply early and often

Federal Student Aid recommends searching for scholarships during the summer between your junior and senior year, but some awards are open to teens as young as 14. Vaughn says entering Stuck at Prom early on in high school gave her an edge on the competition. When she wasn’t selected as a finalist her sophomore year, Vaughn submitted for the contest again as a junior and went on to win the $10,000 dress grand prize.

"When I began working on my entry in 2022, I already knew how to construct the dress from Duck Tape, so I went into the process with confidence," Vaughn explains.

If you have the time and energy, she suggests applying for multiple awards to increase your chances of securing funds for school.

Leverage your creative side

Not all programs are focused on academics and athletics, so flex your creative side to win scholarships that will reward artistic abilities in drawing, painting, music and more. Beginning at an early age, Vaughn excelled at visual arts and design, which is how she knew Stuck at Prom was a perfect fit for her.

"Creative awards programs are a good outlet for students to show off their talents outside of typical schoolwork," Vaughn says. "Even if you aren’t crafty, scholarship applications could be a chance for you to try something new."

Make scholarships a priority

Vaughn spent 143 hours crafting her prom dress made from Duck Tape to enter Stuck at Prom.

While not all scholarship program submissions will take 143 hours or require making Duck Tape attire, Vaughn says it’s important to block off areas on your calendar so you can balance busy school schedules and extracurricular activities along with applications—ensuring there’s enough time to work on a polished entry, whether it’s creating a piece of art or writing an essay.

While applying for scholarships is time consuming, it can make a huge impact when it comes to paying for college.

Vaughn notes, "It takes commitment and drive to apply for scholarships, but the results are worth it."

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Photo Gallery | Running around Urbana, faces and places from Illinois Marathon

Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks
Urbana's Rob Kowalski gives two thumbs up while running along East Washington. Clocking in at 1:45:03, he finished 18th in the men's 50-54 age group and 354th overall. See how all of our area's half marathoners finished here.
Click on thumbnail to see a larger view

Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks
Finishing the first seven miles of their race, Sarah Schuler and Lindsey Dailey jog side by side along McHenry Street in Urbana. The pair crossed the finish line together at 1:59:04.
Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks
Patrick Burks hams it up for the camera as he makes his way down McHenry Street in Urbana. The Manito native finished 1,024th overall and 676th out of 1,104 male competitors. Burks took a leisurely two hours, seven minutes and 14 seconds to run the 13.1 mile race.

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Nick Godsell and Jordyn Catterson lead area runners over the finish line

Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks
Aniket Ravan, from Urbana, IL, runs through along Washington Street at the 2023 Christie Clinic Illinois Half Marathon. He finished 43 out of 154 runners in his age group with a time of 1:40:24. Ravan was one of 217 Sentinel area runners to finish the 13.1 mile course through Urbana. Find more of our photos race here.

URBANA - It was a perfect day to run the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon on Saturday. The weather was just what Urbana's Will Gravelle and former Unity Rocket long distance runner Nick Godsell needed to finish in the top 20 of this year's half marathon event.

Without breaking his stride, Nick Godsell grabs a quick drink as he passes a hydration station on East Washington in Urbana. Photo: PhotoNewsMedia/Clark Brooks
Godsell finished 12th overall and finished in the same spot in the men's division. His time of one hour and 15.02 minutes was good for a third place out of 141 men between the ages of 25-29. Gravelle crossed the finish line eight runners later at 1:16:40 in 20th place overall and fifth in the same age group.

The Sentinel area's top female finisher Jordyn Catterson, from Urbana, clocked in at 1:29:34. She finished 104th overall and came in third in the women's 25-29 age group.

Catterson, with Godsell and Gravelle were members of the 217 area runners from the 2-1-7, who laced-up and finished the 13.1 mile course out of 2,178 competitors.

Saturday's overall champion title was Johnny Crain, from Lansing, MI, who finished the course in one hour and 5.05 minutes. Ten seconds behind Crain, Charleston's Jaime Marcos crossed over at 1:05:15 in second place. Devin Allbaugh, from Bettendorf, IA, finished third at 1:06:07.

28-year-old Jane Bareikis won the women's title with a time of 1:16:13. The Crestwood, IL, runner finished 18th overall.

Coming in second place, Pasca Myers averaged six-minute splits to finish her race at 1:18:37. Elizabeth Flatley, from Chicago, took third, stopping her race clock at 1:19:17.

Area 2023 Illinois Half Marathon Finishers

    (Place - Name (City) Finish Time)    
12 - Nick Godsell (Philo) 1:15:02
20 - Will Gravelle (Urbana) 1:16:40
25 - Armando Torres (Urbana) 1:18:17
33 - Leyang Zhang (Urbana) 1:19:10
43 - Justice Carter (Urbana) 1:20:18
45 - Tom Gelsthorpe (Urbana) 1:20:28
46 - Norb Nieves (Urbana) 1:20:37
47 - Justin Jones (St. Joseph) 1:20:57
52 - Spencer Nelson (Urbana) 1:22:14
57 - Arash Firouzbakht (Urbana) 1:23:12
72 - Ben Williams (Urbana) 1:25:16
79 - Yongjae Lee (Urbana) 1:26:01
89 - RAMSES ARMENDARIZ (Urbana) 1:28:28
91 - Keith Campbell (Urbana) 1:28:32
98 - Andrew Dou (Urbana) 1:28:55
100 - Tristan Taylor (Urbana) 1:29:13
104 - Jordyn Catterson (Urbana) 1:29:34
108 - Park Mitchell (urbana) 1:30:04
114 - Alexander Gomez (Urbana) 1:30:37
134 - Veronika Adamczyk (Urbana) 1:32:27
143 - Rebecca Frederick (Urbana) 1:32:58
150 - Antoni Okinczyc (Urbana) 1:33:43
155 - Jonathan Tomkin (Urbana) 1:34:05
163 - Duncan Nall (Urbana) 1:34:54
169 - Maddy Feehan (Urbana) 1:35:43
171 - Nick Paulson (Urbana) 1:36:07
181 - Yipu Wang (Urbana) 1:36:30
189 - Eric Woodard (Philo) 1:37:10
188 - Seth Carper (Urbana) 1:37:10
190 - Alex Lipka (Urbana) 1:37:11
197 - Cram Soss (Urbana) 1:37:25
211 - Chenghao Zhang (Urbana) 1:38:14
229 - Kieran Loehr (Urbana) 1:38:55
240 - Solomon Michalak (Urbana) 1:39:29
248 - Luke Morrison (Urbana) 1:39:39
255 - Aniket Ravan (Urbana) 1:40:24
281 - Matthew Mabry (St. Joseph) 1:42:04
295 - Aaron Pearlman (Urbana) 1:42:44
296 - Jared Chenoweth (Urbana) 1:43:00
313 - Michael Tankersley (St. Joseph) 1:43:31
327 - Timothy Tan (Urbana) 1:44:05
342 - Zois Gerasimos Tasoulas (Urbana) 1:44:23
346 - Dane Grounds (Urbana) 1:44:34
350 - John Lundstrom (Urbana) 1:44:45
354 - Rob Kowalski (Urbana) 1:45:03
372 - Minjoo Larry Lee (URBANA) 1:45:57
380 - Ben Kaap (Urbana) 1:46:22
392 - Haley Bickelhaupt (Urbana) 1:47:07
400 - Javier Gomez (Urbana) 1:47:31
401 - Lexie Kesler (St. Joseph) 1:47:37
404 - Corey Richier (Urbana) 1:47:39
417 - Daniel Mueller (URBANA) 1:48:06
418 - Brenda Huang (Urbana) 1:48:10
428 - Philip Amortila (Urbana) 1:48:40
452 - Hannah Gibes (Urbana) 1:49:36
459 - Jon Ek (Urbana) 1:49:54
465 - Paul O'Neil (Urbana) 1:50:03
477 - Erik McDuffie (Urbana) 1:50:21
483 - Lauren Brunk (Urbana) 1:50:40
497 - Maggie Hettel (Urbana) 1:50:54
500 - Akhil Marayikkottu (Urbana) 1:51:04
509 - Mika J (Urbana) 1:51:17
526 - Claire Meyer (Urbana) 1:51:38
537 - Ricky Spindler (Urbana) 1:51:49
545 - Toyofumi Yamauchi (Urbana) 1:51:55
549 - MICHAEL SAVAGE (Sidney) 1:52:00
565 - John Floyd (Urbana) 1:52:43
576 - Bethany Blakely (Urbana) 1:53:12
583 - Dongjing Wen (Urbana) 1:53:29
620 - Ryan Harlan Anderson (St. Joseph) 1:54:32
630 - Geoff Ower (Urbana) 1:54:42
634 - Sydney Lazarus (Urbana) 1:54:52
637 - Jessica Snyder (Urbana) 1:54:59
647 - Chinmay Soman (Urbana) 1:55:10
679 - Lawrence Angrave (Urbana) 1:56:03
686 - Eric Metcalf (Urbana) 1:56:15
697 - BICHENG WANG (Urbana) 1:56:32
702 - Brock Immke (St. Joseph) 1:56:45
716 - Molly Paquette (Urbana) 1:57:10
736 - Scott Tess (Urbana) 1:57:48
761 - Samuel Schoenberg (Urbana) 1:58:27
774 - Joanne Woodard (Philo) 1:58:44
776 - Cole Wall (Urbana) 1:58:50
785 - Mark Shoviak (St. Joseph) 1:59:07
791 - Kaden Rawson (Urbana) 1:59:15
862 - David Justice (Urbana) 2:01:40
869 - Alex Green (Urbana) 2:02:10
887 - Melissa Alves (Urbana) 2:02:52
898 - Gregory Jahiel (Urbana) 2:03:14
917 - Josie Suter (Urbana) 2:03:52
918 - Immanuel Stern (Urbana) 2:03:56
937 - Amber Cluver (St. Joseph) 2:04:29
949 - Javier J Garcia Mainieri (Urbana) 2:04:57
956 - Ganesh Ananthakrishnan (Urbana) 2:05:15
969 - Nicole Ream-Sotomayor (Urbana) 2:05:45
997 - Leo Marquez (Urbana) 2:06:35
1009 - Nicole Haglund (Urbana) 2:06:58
1024 - Matthew Rivas-Koehl (Urbana) 2:07:17
1025 - Noah Larsen (Urbana) 2:07:18
1026 - Dane Rivas-Koehl (Urbana) 2:07:19
1028 - Ashley Gilbert (Urbana) 2:07:23
1045 - Darrin Moore (Urbana) 2:07:49
1046 - Sanjay Patel (Urbana) 2:07:50
1061 - Kiley Reed Black (Urbana) 2:08:14
1066 - Christopher Berger (Philo) 2:08:25
1088 - Gabby Wszalek (Urbana) 2:09:25
1090 - Athol Kemball (Urbana) 2:09:27
1121 - Hugh Bowman (Urbana) 2:10:17
1119 - Olga Makarova (Urbana) 2:10:17
1125 - Jean Lin (Urbana) 2:10:20
1134 - Srijan Shukla (Urbana) 2:10:37
1140 - Amy Bailey (St. Joseph) 2:10:43
1152 - Benjamin Hayek (Urbana) 2:10:54
1179 - Baylee Prestin (Urbana) 2:11:43
1185 - Rachel Duerden (Urbana) 2:11:53
1187 - Michael Lard (Urbana) 2:11:55
1190 - Spencer Radina (Urbana) 2:11:58
1202 - Randy Owen (Urbana) 2:12:18
1204 - Mallory Jarot (Urbana) 2:12:19
1205 - Alexander Klec (Urbana) 2:12:24
1206 - Mara Thacker (Urbana) 2:12:24
1225 - Jacob Dilger (Urbana) 2:12:59
1228 - Mia Renna (Urbana) 2:13:02
1244 - Michelle Salfelder (Urbana) 2:13:23
1246 - Jeff Rohde (Royal) 2:13:24
1247 - Elizabeth Chominski (Urbana) 2:13:28
1249 - Brenda Straka (Urbana) 2:13:33
1288 - Joshua Yuan (Urbana) 2:14:49
1289 - Yingying Han (Urbana) 2:14:49
1318 - Eli Bennett (Urbana) 2:16:04
1321 - Hannah Dignan (St. Joseph) 2:16:15
1345 - Seth Herrmann (Urbana) 2:17:07
1358 - Rebecca Mills (Urbana) 2:17:34
1377 - Summer Park (Urbana) 2:18:14
1383 - Kaustubh Panse (Urbana) 2:18:27
1394 - Erin Minor (Urbana) 2:19:00
1408 - Nishant Rodrigues (Urbana) 2:19:20
1413 - Patrick Grenda (Urbana) 2:19:33
1425 - Jay Hoeflinger (Urbana) 2:19:55
1439 - Yolanda Islas (Urbana) 2:20:29
1440 - Matthew Herriott (Philo) 2:20:33
1441 - Christopher Korose (urbana) 2:20:35
1455 - Nancy Roth (St. Joseph) 2:21:01
1493 - David Gallardo (Urbana) 2:22:45
1496 - Margaret Vaessen (Urbana) 2:22:53
1499 - Theresa Heater (Urbana) 2:22:54
1501 - Fia Svendsen (Urbana) 2:22:57
1506 - Shraddha Shirguppe (Urbana) 2:23:12
1518 - Tim Borbely (Urbana) 2:23:33
1520 - Xiongjie Dai (Urbana) 2:23:41
1521 - Anne Sickles (Urbana) 2:23:42
1554 - Scott Hendren (St. Joseph) 2:25:25
1577 - Amanda Rodriguez (Urbana) 2:26:22
1580 - DEAN ROSE (Urbana) 2:26:33
1591 - Fernando Rigal (Urbana) 2:26:50
1592 - Brad Giffel (URBANA) 2:26:51
1599 - Tawn Espinoza (St. Joseph) 2:27:11
1606 - Annie Adams (Urbana) 2:27:19
1632 - Mickey Harbin (Urbana) 2:28:22
1639 - Taojun Wang (Urbana) 2:28:36
1656 - Jessica Wong (Urbana) 2:29:21
1660 - Bonnie Sankey (Urbana) 2:29:28
1682 - Steve OConnell (Urbana) 2:30:04
1686 - Bonnie McElwee (Urbana) 2:30:22
1687 - Tracy Kleparski (Tolono) 2:30:23
1704 - Ryan Medina (Urbana) 2:31:28
1717 - Mitzy Maldonado (Urbana) 2:32:14
1720 - Katie Callahan (Urbana) 2:32:20
1740 - Leslie Hammersmith (Sadorus) 2:33:27
1741 - Stephen Johnson (Sadorus) 2:33:27
1750 - Conlan Pierce (Urbana) 2:34:12
1767 - Adriana Ochoa (Urbana) 2:35:12
1772 - Natalie Hart (Urbana) 2:35:24
1776 - Kelsy A Clark (St. Joseph) 2:35:30
1788 - Cale Reeves (Urbana) 2:36:23
1789 - Michaela Barker (Urbana) 2:36:24
1801 - Rebecca Reck (Urbana) 2:37:36
1814 - Brenda Hixson (Urbana) 2:39:14
1829 - Rucha Kulkarni (Urbana) 2:40:15
1834 - Phyllis Baker (Urbana) 2:40:33
1891 - Annalisa Fama (Urbana) 2:45:06
1892 - Karen Mayfield-Jones (Urbana) 2:45:10
1907 - joshua ragle (St. Joseph) 2:46:20
1910 - Anwesa Choudhuri (Urbana) 2:46:39
1917 - Leslie Landreth (St. Joseph) 2:47:45
1925 - Kathy Vance (Urbana) 2:48:18
1932 - Gerardo Serrano Rangel (Urbana) 2:48:46
1939 - Stephanie McDaniel (Urbana) 2:49:18
1943 - Irene Macedo (Urbana) 2:49:40
1947 - Erin Bedolla (Urbana) 2:49:58
1969 - Terry Hill (St. Joseph) 2:51:25
1977 - Kelly Boeger (Urbana) 2:52:36
1978 - David Perkins-Pride (Urbana) 2:52:36
1984 - Mike Yuchuan Shen (Urbana) 2:53:39
1985 - Sophie McClain (Urbana) 2:53:47
1995 - Tuan Lai (Urbana) 2:54:49
2034 - Thomas Trzupek (Urbana) 2:59:58
2039 - Xuguang Wang (Urbana) 3:00:19
2043 - Erin Smith (St. Joseph) 3:01:11
2052 - Lisa Curtiss (Urbana) 3:02:04
2065 - Amanda Taylor (Urbana) 3:05:03
2069 - Lindsey Block (Tolono) 3:05:47
2070 - Evan Ripperger (Urbana) 3:06:34
2071 - Elizabeth Knipp (Urbana) 3:06:35
2073 - Sebastian Rodriguez (Urbana) 3:06:45
2089 - Ruth Floyd (Urbana) 3:12:44
2108 - Megan Bunfill (Urbana) 3:23:12
2122 - Ronna Benoit (Urbana) 3:25:35
2123 - Maria Wilson (St. Joseph) 3:25:45
2126 - Terri Burdick (Urbana) 3:26:29
2128 - sandeep murthy (Urbana) 3:27:07
2129 - Larissa Metz (Urbana) 3:27:20
2158 - LYNN WILEY (Urbana) 3:42:05
2159 - Jennifer Greene (Urbana) 3:42:05
2162 - Patrick Weiler (Urbana) 3:52:17
2168 - Pat Webb (Urbana) 3:54:57
2169 - Percy Focazio-Moran (Urbana) 3:55:20

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