Student Success Portfolios

For RTAM Members with Relatives Pursuing Further Education

Linda Blair, Joan Dawson, Beth Smith, and Joan Zaretsky

The Retired Teachers’ Association of Manitoba (RTAM) would like to assist your grandchildren, nieces, and nephews, in their successful application for our annual Student Award Program. We are offering information for students to prepare their “Student Success Portfolio” as a tool to encourage them to collect their mementos and documents starting in Grade nine to support them in the development of their Student Award application.

While we anticipate that students will have many items in their portfolio, we view the collection process as important in allowing them to reflect upon all of their opportunities and experiences they have/had in high school. A portfolio gives a personal snapshot of all their interests, skills, and talents they have developed and refined in their high school completion.

The development of a portfolio would support students, not only in applying for our Student Awards, but for other scholarships and bursaries as it helps them to collectively organize all their accomplishments over their four years of high school. The student’s specific portfolio will be different from everyone else’s. It will offer a unique portrayal of their participation in various school committees, sports teams, extra-curricular activities, and community involvement. Some sample entries for their portfolio may include photos of various activities, certificates received for their role in an activity, report cards, a favourite piece of work such as a story, science research, history essay or whatever interests them, newspaper articles, congratulatory letters, and anything that they believe is of significance to their personal growth and development over time. A portfolio is more than a concrete product. The portfolio development process enables students to become active and thoughtful learners about their own personal growth and skills. Portfolios are the windows into a student’s successes over time.

The Student Award application asks for the completed application, a summary of school and community involvement, a reference/support letter from a non-relative and a transcript of final Grade twelve marks. We believe by having an ongoing collection of artifacts in their portfolio, the application process will be much easier to complete.

If you, as an RTAM member, have a relative you believe would be a candidate for the RTAM Student Award when they complete their high school education, you can get them thinking about their many skills and talents to build their own Student Success Portfolio. We believe this RTAM contribution to the preparation of the Student Award applications will facilitate your relative and add to their own self-reflection as they review what they have accomplished during their high school years. We look forward to future Student Award applications from relatives of RTAM members!

Student Success Portfolio Checklist

• Transcript - Have a copy of your High School transcript available to send with your applications.

Not all scholarships, bursaries and awards require high marks, but in case they do, high marks are essential for as many years of education as possible.

If it comes down to a few candidates with equal qualifications the committee will look further back in your mark statement. The transcript the school sends you has all of the years of your secondary education included.

• Participation in School - Being part of the school community is important. You need to be involved in school clubs, be in leadership roles within clubs and actively contributing to the quality of your school life. • Work - Some organizations also want to know about your work experience. Getting and keeping a job shows that you are reliable and hard working. Your employer can attest to your work ethic and ability to follow directions, show initiative and be responsible as well as your ability to work well in a team with different age groups. • Awards - List the name of the award, when you earned it (year/grade level), who you received it from and whether the award was at the school, community, province, or national level. Give the reason you earned it, what is the importance of the award and how meaningful the award was to you. • References - Choose the people who will write your references wisely. You need to be sure that they will give you a positive reference as well as be good writers and effective communicators.

Try to vary them, someone from your education background, an employer, your supervisor from where you volunteer, etc. • Personal Statement -This is a common element used in college and scholarship applications and should be included in your portfolio. The personal statement is used to gain insight into an applicant’s beliefs and core values, so it is important to take the time to draft a well-written description that does not simply regurgitate exactly what is in your resume or transcripts. • Final Notes - Use adjectives when writing your descriptions and elaborate and give as much information as possible.

It is often a good idea to ask a teacher, mentor, or coach for several copies of any letters of recommendation they provide, especially if the letters do not contain any identifiable information, such as scholarship, bursary or award provider’s name or the name of the award itself.

Save both paper and electronic versions of your documentation, just in case something is accidentally lost. A well-organized Student Success Portfolio is often the key to an applicant’s success. 