Money is a factor that plays a big role in nearly every college student\u2019s life. Sifting through financial aid and student loan documents can seem daunting. Paying for an education is an overwhelming task that nearly every student faces. East Stroudsburg University (ESU) senior Zachary Cappella was very familiar with that responsibility. Unwilling to incur debt that will take him years to repay, he took matters into his own hands and is now one of 207 college students granted a scholarship from the United States Department of Defense Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) program.<\/p>\n
Cappella, a computer science and computer security major, became aware of the scholarship when a friend from ESU told him about his personal experience with the SMART program.
\n\u201cMy friend was the only other student at ESU who won the scholarship,\u201d said Capella. \u201cAfter hearing the benefits, I knew I had to apply.\u201d<\/p>\n
The SMART program is for students in science, mathematics and related fields. Winners of the scholarship receive full tuition waivers, internships, health insurance and a stipend rate up to $38,000. SMART\u2019s hefty rewards don\u2019t come easy. Applicants are required to submit several personal essays, three letters of recommendations and attend multiple interview sessions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe process was extremely long,\u201d said Capella. \u201cIt took a lot out of me with no guarantees.\u201d<\/p>\n
After finishing the process in 2015, Cappella was notified that he did not receive the scholarship. Resilient, he applied again. But this time he got it.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoing the entire process over again was exhausting. Being able to win just validated all of the work I have done at school,\u201d said Cappella.<\/p>\n
The money Cappella receives from SMART will help support him financially during his last semester at ESU. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge weight lifted off of my shoulders,\u201d he said. \u201cThis scholarship means everything to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to Cappella\u2019s monetary compensation, he is also guaranteed post-graduation employment.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter I graduate from ESU I get to start working immediately as a civilian software engineer for the Air Force. It\u2019s awesome,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cappella\u2019s persistence and attitude rewarded him with the satisfaction of knowing exactly where he will be post-graduation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny student can do it.,\u201d he said. \u201cYou may get denied once or twice, but it\u2019s worth it. This experience has been absolutely incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Senior Zachary Cappella is now one of 207 college students granted a scholarship from the United States Department of Defense Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) program.<\/p>\n
The SMART program is for students in science, mathematics and related fields. Winners of the scholarship receive full tuition waivers, internships, health insurance and a stipend rate up to $38,000. SMART\u2019s hefty rewards don\u2019t come easy. Applicants are required to submit several personal essays, three letters of recommendations and attend multiple interview sessions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[143,22,42,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-facebook","category-news-release","category-slider"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13552"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13552"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13561,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13552\/revisions\/13561"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}