By Sylvie Wages, COM 250 Reporter

Edited by Brayden Kimbrough, COM 303 Editor

MOUNT BERRY, GA- Berry College offers a variety of on-campus work opportunities that instill a strong work ethic in students and better prepare them for their careers after graduation. In 2020, the LifeWorks Scholarship was introduced for students in unique financial situations.

In addition to helping students pay for college, the scholarship also aims to fill certain work positions at Berry that might be more difficult to staff or require intensive training.

Students on this scholarship are required to stay over the summer and work full time but are not required to stay over breaks. A total of $10,000 of their work earnings goes towards paying for their tuition at Berry. $5,000 goes directly to their accounts and the other half is accumulated over the year in the form of work earnings.

Noah Isherwood, student consultant and leader for LifeWorks, works on putting together the newsletter, coordinating scholarships with the staff newsletter, and planning events for the LifeWorks Scholarship.

“My favorite part of this job is getting to be part of the professional development of students,” Isherwood said.

Another goal of the LifeWorks Scholarship is to fill positions for strategic jobs that may require more intensive training, are harder to fill, or need year-round staffing. Some of these positions include grounds crew, housekeeping, animal care, food services, and positions at The Spires.

“The idea was to provide a scholarship that would synthesize people to work in places we had a hard time filling in the past,” said Mike Burnes, director of LifeWorks operations and analytics.

Now that the scholarship has two years under its belt, coordinators are looking to add more structure.

“We are looking to add a bit more flesh to the bones in terms of growing out the scholarship,” said Helen Simmons, coordinator of the LifeWorks Scholarship.

One feature that coordinators want to add to the scholarship is training in areas of personal and professional development. This would include training skills such as finance management and filing taxes.

“Personal finance is something you can easily graduate from college without knowing a lot about,” Simmons said.

Like other scholarships offered at Berry, there are certain requirements participants must meet. Students must be in good academic standing, demonstrate financial need, and possess a strong work ethic. However, the LifeWorks Scholarship is only a one-year commitment. Students who were previously on the scholarship are eligible to renew it if they are still in good academic standing and have a similar financial situation.

Another benefit of the scholarship is that it can be stacked with existing financial aid which a student has already received.

Simmons said the LifeWorks Scholarship ties together Berry’s heritage and Martha Berry’s vision.

“Martha’s goal was to give students skills and experiences that contribute to their education and better prepare them as they enter professional fields,” Simmons said.

“Students are invested, but Berry is also equally invested,” she added. Students and faculty who are involved with the LifeWorks Scholarship said they are excited to grow the program and recruit new members.