Honey Pippenger Scholarship Application General Essay.
“If you’re being realistic, you’re never going to make a living off of playing music.” My mom was talking to me about the drum set I had set up outside, made out of logs, that I would play daily with two thin bamboo sticks. I set these up to have something musical to do outside, and banging wood with sticks is pretty easy for a kid. Since I was about 4 I’ve always craved playing music, it always called to me. I was homeschooled from 1st to 6th grade, so I had plenty of free time at home. I had always found a way to play music when I was younger. I had toy guitars I would strum all day on, or I would make shakers out of water bottles and beans. I had taught myself some songs on piano and…show more content… When people asked me what I was going to do I would say something like computer science because “that's where the money is”, even though I had coding classes and absolutely hated the subject. My mom would ask me what I was going to do for college, I would always say “ASU for Computer Science”. But my mom just kept asking. It went from a biweekly ask, to a weekly ask, to almost daily, and sometimes she would add “are you sure you don't want to do music?”. One day I finally was honest and broke down saying “I have no idea”, My mom held my hand gently and told me that it needs to be a guitar focused major. I was surprised since she was the reason why I never considered music, but I think she was trying to make amends for not being supportive previously. After that day, I went and did research on schools with good music programs that would suit me the best, and I was heavily taking into consideration the financial aspect of college. Later that week I received a letter in the mail from NAU, which at the time I was accepted into, but not committed to, as a Computer Science major, informing me that I had been awarded the Lumberjack Scholarship. I was shocked, that letter firmly cemented that I was going to commit and choose NAU. Money was one of my biggest concerns when choosing a college. I have a hard home life and wanted to escape Phoenix, but I thought it was financially impossible for me. With…show more content… This scholarship meant a lot to me, knowing that someone would put money into the fact that I could get a Bachelor’s of Music. Financial aid was something that I had to put a lot of time and effort into researching. At the time I was accepted into college and filled out my FAFSA application, my mom was the only working adult, and we we’re living as a family of four, off of about 27k a year. To say times were tough is an understatement. Through FAFSA, I was awarded a Federal Pell Grant of $6,745 for the 23-24 school year. I have also been approved for a Federal DL Sub Loan for $3,500 yearly, and a Federal DL Unsub Loan for $2,000 yearly. My mom has been approved for a Federal DL PLUS Loan for $1,380 yearly. I also received a University Grant for $370. In addition to my Lumberjack Scholarship, which covers the cost of tuition for $11,352, my total financial aid award totals to $26,347 for the school year of
