Jason Scharff
August 20, 2016. 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Scholars4Scholars
Jose Bethancourt
Before beginning my PACT project I wasn’t 100% sure what I would do for the organization. I had gotten involved because of a friend who lives in the area the organization specializes in (the Rio Grande Valley) and he had told me all of these stories about people he knew who had no idea about college or how to pay for it which opened my eyes to just how much of a bubble we live in. Obviously not living in the area, I at first wasn’t sure what I could do for them, but they agreed to take me. They knew I had development experience so they asked if I could write a search engine that they could show students and provide for free that helps students find scholarship opportunities in addition to just their own. I had never really thought about this so I spent the majority of my first two visits looking into the alternatives and writing code to take data from them to incorporate into their own product. From there, I got into the development which is a bit more dry. (though interesting as I haven’t done much web work before). I absolutely feel as if I’m having an impact because I never realized quite how bad the current scholarship search system is––the best systems require a huge commitment and large questionnaires covering the sheer amount of opportunity available scaring students away. While I’m not working directly with those affected, in a sense, my work is more rewarding because if I do my job correctly it could expand beyond just the Rio Grande Valley and make it much easier for students to figure out how to pay for college.
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