Today we spent all morning/afternoon picking our scholars.
We went through all of the scholar applications to start evaluating our applicants. We came up with an algorithm that would help us add some objectivity and “method to the madness.” We blindly graded the applications so that we wouldn’t be influenced by the interviews. We ranked 6 criteria on a 1-7 scale based on what was included in the application. The criteria were: need, well-spoken/effort, drive to learn, passion, caring for others/community, awareness/curiosity about the world. The questions catered to these criteria so that it was easier to find girls that possessed what we were looking for. It was interesting because some of the girls with the best grades had the worst applications. While this wasn’t always the case, it was definitely an interesting observation.
We took the top 9 girls. Our formula was as follows: application 40%, interview 40%, grades (based on class rank) 20%. Within the application and interview, need was weighted 10% and the other criteria were weighted 6% each.
One of our current scholars hasn’t been to school for a week and we finally found her! If she didn’t show up to school today, one of the girls at Ben Bella was going to take us to her house. She has a still unidentified heart condition which prevents her from going to school. Her dad has paid for some medicine but can’t afford to pay for the rest of it currently. Iris and Camryn will continue to check up on her situation after I leave.
We celebrated picking our scholars with pizza and ice cream! I was so proud that our formula worked and that it selected our scholars fairly. In the end, we agreed that those that were picked were the ones that truly were academically gifted and the neediest.
See S4Si’s blog under News and Media (www.s4siunc.org) for our new scholar congratulations!
Vocab word of the day:
La la salama – good night
No comments:
Post a Comment