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Ohio State program provides full-tuition scholarships
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Cametreus Clardy, a 2011 East High School graduate, earned his bachelor’s degree in special education in May from Ohio State University and heads this fall to Vanderbilt University to earn a master’s degree.
Clardy was selected when he was a sixth-grader at the former Volney Rogers Middle School into the Young Scholars Program, where he earned a full-tuition scholarship to OSU as long as he maintained his grades, participated in the group’s community service events and fulfilled other program obligations.
He credits YSP with providing him with those opportunities.
“Even when I was in sixth grade, I was aware of the struggles my mother was going through at that time as a single mom,” Clardy said.
OSU’s Young Scholars Program offers academically promising students who are the first in their families to attend college with scholarships. The program targets those with financial need.
The program pointed Clardy, who was the first in his family to go to college, in the direction he wanted his life to go.
“It showed me, ‘You’re going to school, and you’re going to be able to do things for yourself and your family,’” he said.
Clardy spoke Wednesday at Choffin Career and Technical Center at a public forum on college affordability.
Dr. Michael V. Drake, OSU president, led the forum, part of OSU’s tour around the state.
A state higher-education task force charged public universities with cutting student costs to reduce student debt.
Drake said his 2020 vision focuses on “access, affordability and excellence.”
OSU has expanded scholarship offerings and wants to provide a path to help more students earn their degrees.
“We will work with you,” Drake said.
Last year, the university froze tuition and room and board. It was the first time in 40 years.
“This year, we did it again – it was the second time in 41 years,” Drake said.
His late mother was a 1933 East High School graduate, and he visited the school before arriving at the forum. A new East High School opened in 2007. It was built on the same site where the former East stood.
Robert Soto Jr. will begin his freshman year at Ohio State this fall. He’s also part of the Young Scholars Program. He and his father, Robert Soto Sr., also were panelists as Wednesday’s forum.
Monica Jones, principal of Youngstown Early College High School, offered encouragement to the students in the audience, many of them Young Scholars Program students.
“When you’re part of programs like Early College and Young Scholars, you start to rise above any limitations,” Jones said. “You can achieve at the highest levels.”