With classmates cheering, family members on hand for hugs, and Butler’s live mascot, Trip, there to pose for pictures, Shortridge International Baccalaureate High School seniors Jacob Charboneau, G. Gray, and Aaliyah Coe got an enormous surprise on March 3: They each received full four-year Butler Tuition Guarantee scholarships.

“I was kind of upset earlier in the week and I was crying,” said Coe, who didn’t think she’d gotten the scholarship, said after the announcement. “My mom and dad were really concerned. They said they had to hold it as a surprise, which was hard for them. But I’m glad they did. It’s pretty cool.”

The Butler Tuition Guarantee offers 10 full tuition awards to students who have high financial need as determined by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). In addition to financial need, the review committee values students who have taken leadership roles, participated in co-curricular activities, and shown dedication to academic achievement.

Students who are 21st Century Scholars, future Indianapolis Public School graduates, or eligible for free/reduced lunch were encouraged to apply.

Also receiving Butler Tuition Guarantee scholarships are:

-Amanda Fordyce (Ben Davis High School)
-Emily Jewell (Lawrence North High School)
-Serenity Dzubay (North Central High School)
-Auboni Hart (North Central High School)
-Isaiah Moore (North Central High School)
-Alexandria Kassan (North Central High School)
-Andrew Tucker (Scecina Memorial High School)

Most of the awards were presented quietly, but Shortridge celebrated loudly.

“There are only 10 (Butler Tuition Guarantee scholarships) in all of Marion County,” Shortridge Principal Shane O’Day announced proudly, “and three came out of the 2016 graduating class of Shortridge High School.”

Coe said she expects to study pharmacy at Butler. Charboneau said he plans to look into Butler’s Engineering Dual Degree Program. Gray was not available to comment.

“Thank you for the tenacity, the perseverance, the grit that you’ve shown,” Greg Newlin, Enrollment and Options Officer for Indianapolis Public, told the students. “I know it’s not easy. I’ve been a principal in an IB school. I know what it takes. I know what you do every day, and I couldn’t do it. So I want to be the first to tell you I am for doing that.”

Butler Associate Director of Admission Ashley Anderson noted that Butler has a long-standing, strong relationship with Shortridge. Butler offers an Early College Program, and a number of the faculty and staff members and student teachers are Butler alumni or current Butler students.

In addition, Butler Opera Theatre will present The Pirates of Penzance at Shortridge in April, with students and faculty from both schools working together. The College of Business is working to launch a financial literacy experience at Shortridge. And the Butler Chemistry Department donated much needed science equipment to the high school.

“We really want Shortridge to continue being a pipeline to Butler,” Anderson said.

 

Media contact:
Marc Allan
mallan@butler.edu
317-940-9822