Bright Futures Scholarships

Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program is a scholarship program, funded by the Florida Lottery, to reward any Florida high school graduates who:

• Merits recognition of high academic achievement
• Enrolls in a degree program, certificate program, or applied technology program at an eligible Florida public or private post-secondary education institution
• Receives funding within 2 years of graduation from high school

The program offers four levels of scholarship awards – the Florida Academic Scholars award (FAS), the Florida Medallion Scholars award (FMS), the Florida Gold Seal CAPE (GSC), and the Florida Gold Seal Vocational Scholars award (GSV).

General Requirements

• Be a Florida resident
• Earn a standard high school diploma
• Accepted and enrolled in an eligible Florida public/private post-secondary school
• Enrolled for at least six semester credit hours
• Not have been found guilty of a felony
• Apply for the scholarship in the last semester before graduation and complete an error-free Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA is no longer required, but highly recommended.

For information regarding Bright Futures requirements, please contact the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program at 1-888-827-2004, visit the Bright Futures website.

Community Service or Paid Work Hours

To be eligible to receive one of the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Awards a student must complete community service or paid work hours. Students must earn either the required community service OR paid work hours, but not a combination of both. Service hours/paid work hours must be completed with an agency, company, organization, or business.

Community Service is defined as identifying a social issue in the community. This requires students to look beyond themselves and reach out to an issue faced by our society (i.e. poverty, abuse, elderly citizen rights). These hours will meet the requirement for the Florida Academic Scholars, Florida Medallion Scholars or Gold Seal Vocational scholarships. See the FVHS Community Service or Paid Work Handbook for additional information.

Volunteer Service is defined as assisting where needed and does not necessarily address a social issue. Although these hours are not recorded on the transcript, students can keep a log of these activities for use when applying for college, job applications, awards and scholarships but may not be used for Bright Futures. Only Community Service hours, as defined above, meet the requirement for Bright Futures.

Paid Work Experience is defined as a job where students earn a weekly or biweekly paycheck and are able to document their work experience through timecards, W-2 statements, or paystubs.  Paid work hours will be recorded on the transcript for the student.

Completing and Documenting Community Service or Paid Work Steps:

1. Carefully read through the FVHS Community Service or Paid Work Handbook
2. Students determine where they want to complete their community service/ paid work hours.
3. Complete the FVHS Bright Futures Community Service or Paid Work Approval Form and submit the form to your school counselor BEFORE any hours are completed. 
4. Complete your service/work hours.  Document your hours and reflect on your experience using the FVHS Bright Futures Community Service or Paid Work Log and Reflection Form
5. Collect any and all necessary documentation and signatures from the organization where the hours take place.  Please note that you will need to complete one form for each organization you provide service/work hours for.
6. Submit the FVHS Bright Futures Community Service or Paid Work Log and Reflection Form to your school counselor prior to high school graduation. 

Counselors: Grades 9 -10

• Ms. Beth Mause
  Ms. Mause provides services to students/families with last names A-La. 
• Mrs. Karri Walters
  Mrs. Walters provides services to students/families with last names Le-Z. 

Counselors: Grades 11-12

• Mrs. Lisa Marie Ramkissoon-Chiu
  Mrs. Chiu provides services to students/families with last names A-Ch.
• Mrs. Rebecca Heinzmann
  Mrs. Heinzmann provides services to students/families with last names Ci-F.
• Mrs. Christina Head
  Mrs. Head provides services to students/families with last names G and J-Lo.
• Mr. Michael Esposita
  Mr. Esposita provides services to students/families with last names H-I and AICE students grades 9-12.
• Mrs. Melissa Scott
  Mrs. Scott provides services to students/families with last names Lu-O.
• Ms. Angela Jackson-Miller
  Mrs. Miller provides services to students/families with last names P-Si.
• Mrs. Paula Fitzpatrick
  Mrs. Fitzpatrick provides services to students/families with last names Sk-Z.