Catching the Dream

Dianne Numkena _{on Google}

Sep 30th, 2018

Hi everyone, I just wanted to share my sister's application process with the Catching The Dream (CTD) Scholarship and to warn or find others who were treated unfairly or rudely. TLDR; My sister was treated quite horrendously by the director, Dr. Dean Chavers, had nervous breakdowns trying to appease their ridiculous/unexpected requests and has decided to not move forth with the application process so she can regain a healthy state of mind and focus on her studies again.
Now for the long version. My sister, a new college freshman, was looking for money college and asked me about scholarships. I told her about CTD, even though I never applied to it before due to the crazy amount of personal records they need just for a scholarship application. So she applied anyway and received an e-mail stating that her essay has critiques she needs to revise to continue the application. We found quite disparaging remarks such as “This is a C+ essay at best”, “It looks amateurish”, and her life goal is “vague and meaningless”. As for actual helpful suggestions, she was just referred to read over Dr. Chavers own article he wrote. This went on for a while and hearing such degrading words, she even considered withdrawing from college since He was more or less saying her essay will never adequate to anything. He then told her that if she was going to be considered any further she would have to apply to 50+ scholarships, instead of the 10 originally requested. But she attempted, since we need any financial aid, and this caused her to miss deadlines on school projects, lose sleep since we would work late into the night on scholarships and she even considered lying and putting randoms down, but she said "I wasn’t raised to cheat" so we watched her deteriorate as was juggling school and other applications. I couldn't bear to watch her put with with this so I intervened. Being a recent native college grad, I sent an email to all the staff at CTD about our situation and some possible suggestions for the application process and my contact info and times of availability. Instead I was sent a rapid e-mail from Him stating:
"In 32 years of being here, we have never received such a disparaging letter. We have helped 944 students earn degrees and never had such a caustic letter. You are too sensitive. What is your sister's name?"
Bruh, first off, I ain't no snitch, I didn't want to hurt her chances or any other applicants chances at the scholarship. I was worried he was going to blacklist her from all other scholarships so I held my ground and withheld her name. And yes, I know you went to Stanford for your Masters and PhD, but degrees do not speak for your mannerisms. And lastly, I'm too sensitive? I could have been a potential donor, heck, I could have been an elder, but to straight up call someone "too sensitive" without even knowing them speaks highly of how little you (Dr. Chavers) know how to deal with criticism. I called to the office the next day and asked the receptionist if Dr. Chavers was in, she said he took the day off and that he will be back in between 11-1, I called again and got "he is busy with foundation stuff and will call me back when he is free", "Who is your sister?" Two weeks pass and no response from anyone. Two more weeks passed by and I decided to do one more follow up with Him, but to this date nothing. I know the front desk has me blocked so I don't bother calling them anymore since I just more or less get the response saying "the problem is you and not us".
Hey, it could be me, but I don't want anyone else to be treated as bad as me and my sister were. Especially being native, y’all know the struggle of applying to college the first time, not knowing what to do since most of our family has never gone before and how scary it is looking at the tuition bill. And y'all know how bad academics are on the rez, we need more native graduates. Just wanted to share our story so others do not have to treated the same and to encourage you all to continue your studies despite situations like these

S Reyes _{on Google}

Oct 23rd, 2016

I just got through about half of the scholarship application, and decided to quit because it was so ridiculous. There were errors and typos all over the document. I've never seen an application that was so unprofessional. They are asking for things that no other scholarship has asked for, and frankly even jobs or school.
Some of the financial information they require is pretty sketchy too, and makes me worried about identity theft. I wanted to post this review, so others can keep an eye on this organization.
Then, they want you to list 50 scholarship searches! As a busy engineering major, when do I have time for that??? And more importantly, it's pretty rude to say you have to apply everywhere else before they will even consider you.
Honestly, until Catching the Dream has a trustworthy application process and proves that your information is 100% safe -- I would be careful.