Endless Opportunities at SIUE to help fund your education

Bank of Edwardsville Scholorship Recipients. From Left to Right: Tom Holloway, president of TheBANK of Edwardsville; Marley Coghlan; Thomas Hargis; Nicole Kinnison; Ghellissa Johnson; Keith St. Pierre and SIUE Vice Chancellor, Narbeth Emmanuel. Not pictured is Victoria Pfordresher.

When I first transferred to SIUE in Fall 2008, I didn’t quite know how I would finance my education outside of the basic federal grants and loans that I recieved. SIUE offers several scholarships for its students, many of which are automatic and students don’t even have to apply for.

In October 2009, I received a letter in the mail from the Financial Aid office at SIUE informing me of a $4,200 scholarship that had been applied to my account for the Fall 09 and Spring 10 semesters. The scholarship was sponsored by the Bank of Edwardsville. I immediately thought to myself that this must be some mistake because I didn’t apply for any Bank of Edwardsville scholarship. After doing some research on the scholarship I came to find out that the scholarship was automatically applied to my account because I was selected out of hundreds of SIUE because I exceeded the minimal requirements that the scholarship committee was considering.

The SIUE Scholarships are given to students who exhibit leadership skills, show an interest in business/finance and banking, have financial needs and good grade point averages and are enrolled full-time at SIUE. Students do not have to apply for this scholarship. This year 6 scholarship recipients were selected for the scholarship.

I was also skeptical about taking Summer Classes at SIUE because I didn’t know how I would fund it. Within two weeks of registering for my summer classes for both the Summer 09 and Summer 10 Summer Sessions I noticed that $3,721 in scholarships and grants had been automatically applied to my financial aid account to help cover my summer school expenses.

There are also several departmental scholarships that are available to current students at SIUE. A word of advice that I would offer to incoming students is if you aren’t sure that your going to be able to fund your education at SIUE right now don’t let that stop you because there are endless opportunities outside of your basic federal grants and loans.

Guest Speaker at SIUE Discusses Economic Crisis

Arthur Lindo, associate director and chief accountant of Banking Supervision and Regulation for the Federal Reserve Board speaking at SIUE.

Guest speaker Arthur Lindo, associate director and chief accountant of Banking Supervision and Regulation for the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C., spoke on Tuesday, March 16, 2010 about Loan Losses & Illiquid Markets: Implications for Lending & Economic Recovery.

Lindo compared the crisis and what went on to his basement. He stated that during the height of the crisis they were working seven days a week and on weekends he worked from home. He called his basement his sanctuary because this is where he worked and took calls when he didn’t have to physically be in the office.

Lindo when on to discuss how he feels that asset values are depressed at the moment and that they may not reflect the true value.  Lindo pointed out that accountants and bankers should be able to “construct and de-construct” asset portfolios in ways that allow regulators and shareholders to have a clearer picture of the true value of assets.

Lindo stated that, “accounting should report the news, it shouldn’t be the news”. He also feels that the current accounting model is flawed. Lindo also stressed that accounting needs to become more “forward-looking.” As a profession, accounting has tended to look back at what happened to tell part of a story, he said.

This was an excellent presentation and was a great opportunity to get out and network with alumni and businesses from the community as well as meet people at SIUE. I love the fact that SIUE always offers ways for its students to become involved on campus both academically and socially.

Why I’m Taking Summer Classes

I have been taking summer classes every summer since I enrolled in college. There are several benefits to taking summer classes at SIUE. One of the major benefits to taking summer courses is the opportunity to possibly graduate early. Some other benefits are taking classes in a shorter time span as compared to the regular school semester and having smaller class sizes. Smaller class sizes mean more one on one interaction from your professors. I have also come to learn that most of the summer classes that I have taken have been more hands on since the class sizes are a lot smaller. SIUE also offers a ton of courses over the summer in convenient formats and time-frames to work with ones busy schedule.

Getting Involved on Campus

Becoming involved in campus clubs and organizations has been essential to my success at SIUE. I have had to opportunity to meet and work with several amazing people at SIUE by being involved in different clubs and organizations. I am a member of SIUE STARS which is an organization on campus that is responsible for assisting with campus tours and special admissions events on campus. I am also a Springboard Student Leader and member of the Springboard Executive Board. This has been a wonderful opportunity for me and has greatly enhanced my leadership experience. I have gotten the opportunity to meet and work with thousands of incoming freshman and their families by being a part of this organization. I am also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. This is another amazing organization that I am proud to be a member of. We volunteer in the community and at the university on a regular basis. We also put on several events and programs both educational and social for the SIUE campus community.

My Favorite Professor

My favorite professor would have to be Professor Ann Gorman. Professor Gorman is a Marketing professor in the school of business and is absolutely amazing. This is one professor that absolutely loves teaching in her particular field, truly cares about her students and is very knowledgeable and helpful. Professor Gorman has gone out of her way to help students. I once needed additional help in preparing for an exam for one of her courses and she e-mailed me her cell phone number so that I would be able to get in contact with her over the weekend to get the help I needed. I have taken two courses in the school of business with Professor Gorman already and am scheduled to register for another course with her next semester. I highly recommend professor Gorman to anyone taking any marketing classes at SIUE without any reservation.

Why SIUE? From Ghellissa’s Perspective

I came to SIUE as a transfer student from Minnesota State University in Fall 2008. SIUE was originally one of my top choices when I first graduated from high school in 2006; however, my family’s financial conditions prevented me from being able to attend SIUE. Because of this reason, I ended up choosing a school which offered me the most money in scholarships and grants. This was the biggest mistake of my life because the university wasn’t as diverse as SIUE, the campus wasn’t as nice as SIUE, the academic programs wasn’t as prestige as SIUE.

I chose to make the decision to transfer to SIUE which was originally my first college choice because I wasn’t being offered the opportunities that I deserved at the previous school. I chose SIUE because  of its distance from home, the prestige of its academic programs and because of the warm welcome that I received every time I stepped foot on the campus. My decision to transfer was one of the best decisions that I made in my life.

So many doors of opportunity have been opened for me since being at SIUE and I even received a scholarship after only a year that was comparable to the scholarship that I received at my previous institution.  I also applied to Western Michigan University, Michigan State University, Illinois State University, Northern Illinois University and Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Meet Ghellissa Johnson

My name is Ghellissa Johnson. This is my senior year at SIUE. I am a Marketing Major and Mass Communications Minor. I am scheduled to graduate in December 2010. In my spare time, I write poetry, spend time with my amazing boyfriend or just hang out with friends and my sorority sisters of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Upon graduation, I plan to pursue my MBA degree with a Project Management Specialization from either SIUE or SLU.  Upon completing that degree I plan to take the Project Manager Certification exam to become a licensed Project Manager. After obtaining by MBA and PMP Certification I plan to move back to Chicago and jump start my career, with the dream of one day having a happy family as well.