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Students in the Architectural Manufacturing and Technology (AMMT) program at PSU will soon be able to receive more program-specific scholarship aid thanks to a fund created in dedication to lifelong woodworker and friend of the program Chris Schultz.
“I had the pleasure of hanging out with Chris,” said Charles Phillips, the current AMMT program coordinator at PSU. “We recruit in Arizona fairly heavily. We make a trip out there every year, and for the last three or four years Chris came around with me and we would attend the various high schools that I went to. Super great guy. Very knowledgeable, a great woodworker. He was very supportive of our program. He was always very encouraging of students and this was an area that, if students wanted to have a career (in it), he was very encouraging of them.”
The PSU AMMT department consists of a two-year Associate of Applied Science degree and a four-year Bachelor of Applied Science. Students within the program can enjoy more hands-on experiences like trade shows and PSU’s Company Days.
Vicki Schultz, along with her and Chris’s two daughters, Chelsea and Ali, created the scholarship in hopes of supporting the students who choose to pursue the field that Chris loved.
“We decided to establish a scholarship for students in the PSU AMMT program to give them the opportunity to pursue their passion without the stress of the financial burden of tuition,” Vicki Schultz said in an interview with University News. “Also, this scholarship will carry on his legacy.”
According to Vickie Schultz, her husband continued to contribute to the AMMT program before his death to cancer this past March.
“While working alongside (students), he’d mentor and teach them how to create and learn the craft of woodworking,” Schultz said. “It was always important to him that he give the students direction and help guide them to a career that was best suited to their unique skill set.”
Scholarship funds like this one help students in specific programs by allowing funds to be distributed solely to students in that program. This also allows people to dedicate scholarships for people who cherished a certain profession, like Chris Schultz and his love of woodworking.
Isaac Lindsey, sophomore in wood technology, said this targeted funding can help smaller majors and departments.
“This major doesn’t get very much funding,” Lindsey said. “So, anything, even if it is just to the students, is helpful.”
Phillips also sees a lot of benefit in having a scholarship specifically for AMMT majors.
“I think this scholarship will be great,” Phillips said. “Especially since (it) is dedicated with out-of-state students in mind. Students, especially those from Arizona (where Chris lived), are paying full out-of-state tuition, and in many cases the main reasoning for them not attending Pitt State is the expense associated with that, so having this scholarship will have a dramatic impact. We’re already seeing some of that in several students that are wanting to attend next year that may not have attended based on the cost.”
In order to apply for the scholarship, incoming freshmen to the AMMT program must fill out the scholarship section of their admissions application. Transfer students and current students must fill out the general scholarship application that is traditionally due on Feb. 1 of each year.