{"id":3710,"date":"2024-04-22T15:11:06","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T15:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/?p=3710"},"modified":"2024-05-03T15:11:30","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T15:11:30","slug":"scholarships-drive-metropolis-sparks-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/?p=3710","title":{"rendered":"Scholarships drive Metropolis\u2019 Sparks forward"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_3711\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3711\" style=\"width: 375px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-3711\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Dorian-Sparks-e1714749049884-252x300.jpeg\" alt=\"Dorian Sparks, Massac County\" width=\"375\" height=\"446\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Dorian-Sparks-e1714749049884-252x300.jpeg 252w, https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Dorian-Sparks-e1714749049884-859x1024.jpeg 859w, https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Dorian-Sparks-e1714749049884-768x915.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Dorian-Sparks-e1714749049884.jpeg 1281w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 375px) 100vw, 375px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3711\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dorian Sparks, Massac County<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>By Jeff Wilson<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Saluki spirit runs deeply in Dorian Sparks\u2019 family. Her grandmother attended SIU, and her parents met while SIU students.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of people from Metropolis go to Murray State,\u201d said Sparks, a Massac County High School graduate. \u201cI figured out my junior year of high school that SIU made the most sense for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During her journey, she received two scholarships, one from the Friends of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute and the other from the Society for Civil Discourse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Paul Simon Institute scholarships provided me with a cushion going into college,\u201d Sparks said. \u201cThe Society for Civil Discourse scholarship came as I was going into the end of the semester and had $1,500 on my bursar bill to pay off. It helped me avoid taking out student loans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sparks originally came to SIU for the health care management program, but she recently changed majors and is now pursuing her degree in nursing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI still love health care management, but I\u2019m really excited,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m a certified nursing assistant now, but I want to become a registered nurse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The scholarships have created a connection with her school and its alumni. Being from Southern Illinois has just made it all that much more special.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo often it seems like people want you to go to college, but that\u2019s all they want to do,\u201d she said. \u201cOur alumni pride themselves on the fact they went to SIU. It makes me feel really supported here. Thank you to everyone who helps. It\u2019s going to push me to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jeff Wilson Saluki spirit runs deeply in Dorian Sparks\u2019 family. Her grandmother attended SIU, and her parents met while SIU students. \u201cA lot of people from Metropolis go to Murray State,\u201d said Sparks, a Massac County High School graduate. \u201cI figured out my junior year of high school that SIU made the most sense &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/?p=3710\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Scholarships drive Metropolis\u2019 Sparks forward<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3710"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3712,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3710\/revisions\/3712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}