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del.icio.us70 tech scholarships await seniors
BY PHYLLIS JACOBS GRIEKSPOOR
The Wichita Eagle
Wichita Area Technical College will offer full-tuition scholarships to 70 Sedgwick County high school seniors, officials announced Tuesday.
Students who enroll in one of 14 programs that start in July and September will be eligible for the scholarships.
The total financial outlay of about $300,000 will come from the institutional scholarship fund and money diverted from the marketing budget, said WATC president Peter Gustaf.
Last year, only two full-tuition scholarships were available.
"We thought it made sense to market WATC by making it accessible to promising students," Gustaf said.
Scholarship preference will be given to students with at least a 3.0 grade-point average.
"This high-skilled technical education requires aptitude, skills and talents on a par with those required for a four-year degree at many colleges," said Sedgwick County Commissioner Tim Norton.
Kyle Stover, who works in engineering services for Lee Products, a designer of high-end aircraft interiors, said he enrolled in a WATC computer-assisted drafting class in 2006.
"I was only halfway through the program when companies came in looking for workers, and I was hired before graduation," he said. "This is a great program to get how-to experience and a jump start on a career."
