Dear UV,

When the Jan. 14 issue came out, many seniors and a few juniors were surprised to hear about the new $25 participation fee that will be applied to the Caswell Scholars program. I then heard some seniors say that they probably would not have participated in the program if this fee had been implemented earlier. I was surprised to hear this. I would not have thought twice about the $25 fee. I think Caswell Scholars is one of the best programs that Marlborough has to offer. Caswell Scholars gave me the opportunity to learn the basics of subjects that I would normally not have the chance to learn about in my regular school schedule. I also gained valuable skills from the program. I will always use the skills I learned from my public speaking course.

I think $25 is a small price to pay in exchange for the opportunity to gain new knowledge on topics that are not usually taught in school. There is always the chance that a student will take a course because she thinks she might be interested in the subject and then continue to pursue studying the subject outside of Caswell Scholars. For example, I took an architecture course and liked it so much that I now read books on architecture during my free time. I understand that the $25 fee is also being used to support new courses, which I think will bolster the program and invite more girls to participate. I was glad to see that the fee did not have drastic effects on the number of participants, and I hope girls continue to sign up knowing that they will take something valuable away from this unique program.

Rebecca ’11