At-home community service in quarantine could net students scholarship money at FIU

When high school junior Annika Aldana isn’t learning remotely online, she’s helping sew masks for hospitals in Lee County.

For every hour of community service, she nets $4 toward college tuition because she logs it in a college scholarship portal called RaiseMe. Every little bit helps, as the 16-year-old already has $2,000 earned to go to Florida International University.

“I really didn’t think I would get money to college because of it,” Aldana said. “I just kind of did it because it was right. We all have to do our part in a way.”

Aldana is participating in a new scholarship opportunity for university-bound students stuck at home in the quarantine. RaiseMe, where students like Aldana plug in accomplishments like grades, extracurricular activities, work experience and test scores for cash toward 250 participating colleges, has now launched a new “micro-scholarship” for students who support their communities during the pandemic.

Students can sew cloth masks, collect donations for families in need and create awareness campaigns on apps like Instagram and TikTok. For that, they can earn scholarship money toward a specific college.

FIU was one of the first universities to partner with RaiseMe since it launched in 2015. It provides funding from its own budget to pay for the scholarships. FIU has a maximum award of $2,500, which is multiplied by four years for a $10,000 scholarship.

Jody Glassman, director of university admissions at FIU, says a third of FIU’s incoming class — more than 1,000 freshmen — have come in with RaiseMe scholarship money. Though open to all high school students and transfer students from community colleges, Glassman said these micro-scholarships provide community service opportunities to help out rising high school seniors like Aldana.

“They’re missing out on time to be doing those hours,” Glassman said. “So we had to look for new ways in order to do that because everyone is pretty much remote and working from their residence or wherever they are.”

She said she’s seen students submit public service messages about staying indoors and practicing good hand washing, which is helpful when talking peer-to-peer and communicating with younger kids who like visuals.

“I think they’re going to find very creative and constructive ways to find a role in helping...the greater good,” Glassman said. “Their leadership and service qualities are very valued on our campus.”

Aside from earning scholarship money, RaiseMe has helped Aldana narrow down FIU as one of her top two choices for college. She’s also considering Florida Atlantic University, where she has earned $392 in scholarships via RaiseMe.

“I definitely like that financially it gave me a breakdown of how much I’d be spending at that college and how much I’d calculate that,” she said. “The more money I get from RaiseMe does help with the college decision, but it also gives me more info about the colleges that I didn’t have before.”

This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 5:56 PM.