Parents:

Are you computer shopping for your college-bound kid?  If so, read this article to avert disaster.  Here are four precautionary measures to consider:

Backup Services & Devices – Viruses can damage or destroy crucial files like term papers and other important documents.  Online backup sites like Carbonite and Norton Online Backup automatically back up files and protect them online for about $5 a month.  A flash drive or pocket media drive can also be used to back up files and start at under $20.

System Recovery DVD – Windows encourages you to create a “recovery” disc that will allow you to reboot from that DVD in the event your operating system has a problem. Unfortunately, many people don’t take that extra step. When you order your new PC, you can often order the recovery DVD included with your purchase for under $20. It’s a one-time, inexpensive add-on that will more than pay for itself when you have a problem.

Extended Warranty – No matter how careful you are — accidents happen.  You can fully protect your HP PC from damage and drops with an extended warranty.  HP can arrange shipping for home or campus for necessary repairs.

CompuTrace LoJack for Laptops – Crime is an issue on every campus, and CompuTrace is the Lo-Jack for your computer.  Once a student reports their computer stolen, CompuTrace will track that computer once it connects to the internet and contact local police to alert them to the stolen device.

HP Academy has a ‘peace of mind’ bundle on sale now through September 28, just in time for back-to-school.  It includes a  2yr HP Care Pack Accidental Damage Protection Services with LoJack for Laptops (product code on website HC688B).  You can save up to 54% when purchasing an HP Compaq, G-series, Pavilion, TouchSmart, or Envy laptop.

HP Academy provides exclusive education discounts on PC’s, printers, and a wide variety of supplies and accessories including many of the products mentioned here.  HP Academy also has experts standing by to help you choose your PC.   Call 800-632-8251 today for a great deal on a computer, and the peace of mind that your investment is protected.

The college admissions process is a hassle, and students everywhere know this. Sometimes they get help from those who know the process best, sometimes they figure things out themselves and other times they sing about it. Maureen Silva is a zinch student and recent high school graduate who chose to do all three.

Hear her take on college admissions and financial aid through song below. We love the creativity put into this song!

Congratulations to the Weekly “Three Sentence Essay” Scholarship winner, Rhea Nichols! Her essay not only made us laugh, but showed she was informed about the current oil spill in the Gulf. Funny and smart! Congratulations Rhea!

Here is her winning essay:
If I could pull a prank on any world leader, it would be President Obama. I would have his staff prepare a nice dinner for family and guests and announce the menu as fresh seafood from the Gulf Coast. Perhaps, the significance of the problem would hit home, and he would take a stronger stand.

Here is a little more about our winner:
I’m a rising senior, and I like to stay busy. Most of my time, I spend playing softball. I play on a top travel team called the Williamsburg Starz Gold Team. I play in the outfield because I am a very fast runner and like the challenge of running after fly balls. When I’m not playing softball, I like to go to the beach with friends. In the winter, I love to go snowboarding, and I like to take bus trips to Snowshoe. I also enjoy quiet activities like reading and painting. I plan to major in art, so I love to draw and paint. I also volunteer at a camp for children with autism.

Here are some of our runner ups:

Nikita West: I’d challenge how tech-savvy the President is by doing the classic screen shot of the empty desktop, make it the wallpaper, hide all the icons and hide the start bar. The mouse would work, but it would look like everything he clicked on was broken. It would provide humor for the computer techs.

Jenna Markovska: If I could play a prank on any world leader, I would send Obama a fake letter/email from Lady Gaga’s record label strongly requesting that he play her love interest in her next music video.

If you want a chance to win next week, be sure to post you two to three sentence essay in the comments section of the scholarship profile and don’t forget to update your profile!

Here at Zinch we like to help students find money for college because we know just how expensive an education can be. Luckily there are others out there who want to help too.

Ever heard of Advising Corps? Made up of 150 recent college graduates, National College Advising Corps (NCAC) is striving to help students in under-served communities attend college. College grads serve as advisors to students and assist them with the college admissions process, making higher education a possibility for those who had lost hope.

This month, NCAC is up for $250,000 in the Pepsi Refresh Everything Challenge, but they need your help. The competition relies on the votes of people around the country and what they think are the best ideas (only two are chosen out of 1,000), so your vote really counts. Check out the page to vote for their project here: Increase college going rates in under-served communities | Pepsi Refresh Everything and help promote the project by posting the link to your Twitter and Facebook account.

You can vote every day, so be sure to hit up the page as much as you can this month. Voting is already started and runs until July 31, so take every chance you can to support this great cause!

Congratulations to the Weekly “Three Sentence Essay” Scholarship winner, Lauren Paolino! Lauren will start her senior year in high school this fall where she’ll be a member of both the soccer and swim team.

When asked what gift she would give to anyone in the world, this was her response and winning essay:

“Happiness is only real when shared,” said Stephen Hawking. Every individual deserves the gift of happiness.

Here is a little more about our winner:

I have held two jobs while in high school. I have accumulated over two hundred and fifty six hours of community service. I have held many leadership positions. I have been in the running for many student government positions. I play travel soccer for a well-known club. I am on the school soccer and swim team; the swim team won states twice while I participated. I am in National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, Interact Club and BASE Club. I have school spirit and attend almost every sporting event. I am also on prom committee. I manage my time well. I am independent, outgoing, and positive.

Congratulations Lauren!

Some of the runner ups are below:

Veena Bhatia: I would give the gift of courage to all people who are scared of others, scared of failure, scared of commitment… because people construct their own destinies. You make your own life to be the way you want it to be.

Brittany Bullard: I would give the gift of having a place to call home to those who don’t have one. Home is where the heart is and everyone deserves to live comfortably. A home can make even the worst times in life seem minuscule because it’s an escape from the harsh, cruel world and I think everyone deserves that.

Renee Mallari: If i could give any gift in the world, it would be the gift of inspiration. I would give it to the world in hopes that everyone would become inspired to do something more with their life. It is through inspiration that people are able to achieve the things they never thought possible.

Kelsey Abel: I would give hope to a child who might otherwise have a hopeless future. Too often do innocent children become encased in a mold of their home life that seems impenetrable and insurmountable. No child and no person should ever feel limited by surroundings which they have no choice but to endure.

Kaitlin Kobs: I would give to everyone the gift of faith, not necessarily in a religion, but in the human race. Even when things are in the deepest depths, faith is the light that helps you find your way out. Faith is what fuels people to do something, to make change, to make things right.

Jennifer Tran: It’s natural to make mistakes, but we often do not take advantage of the lessons they offer. I would give everyone the desire to learn from mistakes, both our own and those of others. They are warnings and if we heed them well, we will be able to navigate our way through life with more ease.

Kathleen Wong: To understand and accept our failures, our successes, and our dreams, is the greatest treasure. Accepting all that we are would give us the freedom to feel our truest emotions and to pursue our passion. My gift to you is honest acceptance, it is a present that would lead to a better future.

Be next week’s winner by applying for the weekly essay scholarship right now! And don’t forget to update your profile!

Meet Hannah Rivard, yet another Scholarship Matching winner who will be awarded for using Zinch! A soon-to-be sophomore in the fall at Northwestern College in Minnesota, Hannah has big plans for her future. Though she’ll joke about it, it’s apparent that she knows exactly what she wants to do and how to achieve it. Congratulations and good luck, Hannah!

What was your reaction when you heard we were matching your scholarship?

It was hard for me to believe! I’m so used to things like Zinch either being too good to be true or never happening to me, and here it was true and it did happen to me! I felt so blessed that I found Zinch and the scholarships on it.

What are your plans for the future?

That question always makes my mom laugh. What plans?! But no, actually, I do have a direction I am going. I would like to have a horse training business (I’ve started it now, it’s called Cambria Horsemanship) that trains liberty and bridleless horses (without tack, ropes, bridles, etc.), teaches others how to train and acts with/trains those horses for use in film. That combines my two deep passions of horse training and acting, as well as my applying of my Christian faith to everything in life, as my horse training method specifically draws from Christian principles and worldview.

What do you do on rainy days?

I’m often inside writing, practicing music or watching horse training DVDs. Sometimes I play with and train my dogs inside the house, or play with my horse in the indoor arena!

What one food could you not live without?

Peanut butter! Peanut butter goes with everything. Cookies, bread, pancakes, waffles, ice cream, hot chocolate and graham crackers. It’s like the ‘magic food of amazingness.’

If you could have dinner with 3 people (dead or alive), who would it be and why?

One would definitely be C.S. Lewis – his books have completely changed my life, and I would love to interact with such a godly, yet humorous and humble man. Another would be Carolyn Resnick, an amazing horsewoman who seeks to train horses through connection and relationship, not force. I use a lot of her methods. I hope this doesn’t sound creepy, but I would be interested to meet Hitler or Stalin face to face. It would be frightening, certainly, but sometimes I think we forget that they were people, too. What were they truly like under all that anger and pain? I guess that is the question we should ask of any person.

How are you more than a test score?

I am more than a test score because I am a child of God! Whether I perform wonderfully or horribly on tests, He still loves me and I still have infinite worth.

Have you found and won a scholarship on Zinch? Let us know because you just might be eligible for a Scholarship Matching Award!

Congratulations to the Weekly “Three Sentence Essay” Scholarship winner, Brandon Stirrup! As the winner of this past week’s essay scholarship, Brandon will be putting his scholarship money toward his education at The University of Georgia.

Here is his winning essay:
The world needs smart, dedicated individuals with no fear of the unknown, no fear of the future, and who have a plan for their own lives. The world needs parents to become heroes for their children, and children to become the leaders and role models of the future. The world needs diversity.

Here is a little more about our winner:
I am Brandon. I was admitted to The University of Georgia which is where I will attend to study political science. I am really into politics and international relations. I went to the Governor’s Honors Program in Georgia to study Spanish, and was runner up for the top Spanish student of the year for the state. I played soccer all four years of high school and I was president of Spanish honor society and Spanish club. I have attended a christian church my whole life but I am pretty liberal and accept all types of lifestyles. I just need money for college because UGA is expensive!

Congratulations Brandon!

Some of the runner ups are below:

Chelby Miller: There are quite a few things that the world needs now–compassion, understanding, acceptance, trust, peace and more. While the world wages its war and points blame at poignant figures in society, it is the individual people who determine what the world is, and only they can cause change.

Kassandra Breen: The world needs a sense of compassion; the desire to put another human being before themselves. If everyone genuinely cared for one another, we would not see violence or hate. The world would simply know peace, pure happiness and experience nothing but joy.

Kristin Appel: The last thing the world needs is unity. The world should celebrate it’s diversity and support intellectual competition. This question will never be solved with one answer, so I ask, what does the world need you to do?

Laura Willett: I believe that the world now needs to purify itself, put aside such silly materialistic and political worries, and focus on its true purpose. This earth is supposed to be a home for us, not a place of turmoil, conflict and hatred. We were not placed here to fight one another.

Malena Brooks: Right now the world needs hope. In the midst of all the problems facing the world we need something to hold on to, something to look at that tells us we will survive this. If the world could find hope then maybe we could make the world a better place.

Alejandra Moreno: The world today needs people who tell the truth, people who are honest and don’t aspire to corrupt the minds of the young. The world needs more open-minded people, people who will see different solutions in everything, people who aren’t afraid of trying new things. These people will save us all.

Chandler Padgett: Personally, I think that the world needs to join hands. I believe that by people around the world working together for a single cause, the outcome will be far more grand than the world that we live in right now; I believe that people, as a whole, will become more selfless and focused more on others.

Sarah Gerton: Now, the world needs action.  We could talk forever about what we need to do about various problems, but if talk is all that ever happens, we will lose our chance to take action.  Today is the day to begin.

Looking to win the next weekly scholarship? Be sure to update your profile and tell us how you’re more than a test score! Profiles are considered when judging.

Eric Arevalo found and won a scholarship on Zinch and now he is being rewarded. Why, you ask? Because he’s smart enough to use Zinch to help find money for college. Want to know more about him? Well, he’s an excessive coffee and hot chocolate drinker, plays guitar, loves cereal more than any other food, and is about to start his senior year at USC. You can tell he has his priorities in order and is passionate about what he does.

Why do you deserve this scholarship?
I don’t deserve this scholarship any more than all the other hard-working students out there. But I’ve been extremely fortunate to find an organization around here (L.A.) that recognizes students from underrepresented backgrounds who truly aim to make a difference in this world. It’s my dedication to the community and to the poor that got my this scholarship. And I am super lucky Zinch was there to match it for me!

What was your reaction when you heard we were matching your scholarship?
I was stoked! I initially thought that there had to be some catch or something in fine print that would prevent me from getting the scholarship. I mean, since when do websites/organizations give out money so easily?  Once I was told I received the matching scholarship and the money came in, however, I was extremely grateful!

What are your plans for the future?
I am currently working at a non-profit, documentary film-making company that showcases unique and extraordinary humanitarian efforts of different people/organizations around the world! Once I graduate, I’d eventually like to start my own independent chain of documentaries that focus on social issues such as poverty and show what can be done to treat these issues. My family being from Nicaragua, I’ve always had a deep connection and sympathetic attitude towards the poor, so as long as I am doing something that reaches out to the less fortunate, I am happy!

What’s the first thing you would grab on your way out the door if your house caught fire?
My baby kitten! I just adopted him about 6 months ago and now he is my best friend. Plus, what could possibly be more brutal than seeing a cute and fluffy white kitten catch fire and burn?? :(

If you could have dinner with 3 people (dead or alive), who would it be and why?
Jesus, Tom Delonge from Blink182, and Kobe Bryant. Jesus to answer all my life’s questions, Tom because he is my all-time favorite musician, and Kobe because he’s the man.

If you had a million dollars and you had to spend it on yourself, what would you do?
First, I would pay off tuition for next year along with my school debt! Then, I’d buy a decent car since my current one is 19 years old, falling to scraps, and probably has only a few months of life left in it. I’d invest some money in getting a nice video camera for shooting all my films, and then probably just put the rest of the money in the bank!

If you could change one thing in history, what would it be and why?
I’d take back the Holocaust, which in my opinion stands as one of the most atrocious events to ever occur in history. I’ve been educated a lot on the Holocaust, and there are so many awful stories and so much pain surrounding it, even several decades after its occurrence.

How are you more than a test score?
I have never felt that my grades or my test scores define who I am. They are probably the least important thing when it comes to understanding me and what I’m all about. I am a musician, a filmmaker, an athlete, a loving brother, and a loyal friend. These are the things that define my character, not letter grades or percentages.

Feeling a little jealous? Well, start looking for scholarships on Zinch and you could be the next matching winner!

Meet last week’s Weekly “Three Sentence Essay” Scholarship winner, Andrew Kaye! With so many entries to choose from, it was a tough decision, but we congratulate Andrew on his great essay.

Here is his winning essay:

Our freedoms, as listed in the first amendment, are the only bonds that hold our country together. I believe that it is more important to have the rights of speech and free expression of oneself than to have the right to have protection. If everyone was free, we wouldn’t need to fight for freedom.

Here is a little more about our winner:

I am very outgoing and enjoy working with other people. I also volunteer and will get the job done no matter what someone asks me to do for them. I also enjoy playing tennis for the Basha High School Junior Varsity Team and I am looking forward to playing for their varsity team next year. I plan on progressing in the engineering field in the future because of an engineering course I recently took and found suitable. I am a straight A student and I will try to receive an unweighted GPA of at least 4.0 for all four years in high school.

Congratulations Andrew!

Thanks to everyone who participated! Don’t forget to submit your essay for this week’s contest and remember that judging is based off your profile as well, so update them before you submit your essay!

We love matching scholarships, dollar-for-dollar, here at Zinch, and we think Zinchers don’t mind being matched either. In fact, I think Ellen Wieberg is a big fan of the Scholarship Matching program at the moment. She loves traveling and curling up with a good book, and, apparently, planning for the future since she’s only a junior in high school and has already won more than one scholarship.

Why do you deserve this scholarship?

I have applied for probably over $100,000 worth of scholarships and this is finally my “big break.” Since I am only a junior, I think that this shows how dedicated I am to my future education and how much I want to succeed at whatever I choose to become.

What are your plans for the future?

There are so many options for the future that it is super hard to pick. If I had to choose my future right now… I would plan to major in communications and leadership and get a job where I would get to work with people every day. I want to have a family and I want to volunteer as much as possible. Basically, what I’m saying is that I want my own perfect version of the American dream.

What’s the first thing you would grab on your way out the door if your house caught fire?

So, this is kind of dorky, but I like scrap-booking a lot. I made a scrapbook of my childhood up through my high school years and I have probably spent like 100 hours on it so I would grab that. It is supposed to be something for me to look at and remember good times.

If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?

I would want to be able to teleport so I would never have to worry about having a car (or paying for gas money) and if I wanted to go someplace far, like Germany, I could just pick up and go.

Want us to match your scholarship, be featured on our blog and be one step closer to paying for college? Let us know if you find and win a scholarship on Zinch and you can!