<p>crap - do you know how i can get a member nomination? i dont know anyone in the organization.</p>
<p>They give you a number to call in the semifinalist email. Maybe this will help:
"call the NFIB Member Care Center at 800-634-2669 between February 23 and March 16, Monday-Friday 7:00 to 5:00 CST." I just finished my interview and he said I have a pretty good chance at some type of award b/c most semifinalists get a scholarship.</p>
<p>I am semi-finalist too. seems like a lot of people are semi-finalists</p>
<p>I sent the form to a guy in Austin begging him to call me... I really hope that works out... I can't believe they didn't have anyone in El Paso...</p>
<p>This guy still hasn't called me back yet! What is going on!</p>
<p>So I think I am not going to do it.. the guy never called...</p>
<p>I had my interview today. I was sick but I still think it went really well.</p>
<p>We just got ANOTHER EMAIL TODAY from them. Did anyone else get this email? Here it is.</p>
<p>Dear NAME:</p>
<p>We recently contacted you regarding your semifinalist status for the NFIB Young Entrepreneur Award Scholarship Program. Due to recent inquires, below is information we feel may be helpful as you complete the required steps for final consideration in the competition.</p>
<p>Carefully read the Semifinalist Completion Instructions in it’s entirety before proceeding with any individual step in the process.
Contact ONLY the Member Care Center as directed in the attached instructions to obtain contact information for an NFIB member. Do not contact NFIB state offices.
You MUST first contact the NFIB nominating member provided by phone. Do not make contact by mail, email, or fax without a prior conversation.
Your parent may call the Member Care Center on your behalf to obtain member information. They may also contact the NFIB member to schedule a time for you to contact them regarding the nomination process.
The student MUST obtain the signed nomination form from the NFIB nominating member and include it in the semifinalist completion materials. Do not request that the NFIB member send the form separately to SPA.
If, after reviewing these items and the attached instructions, you have other questions or need assistance, please contact us at <a href="mailto:wmartin@spaprog.com">wmartin@spaprog.com</a>.</p>
<p>Sincerely,
Leigh Marlow
Program Manager</p>
<p>Ya i got it. I got a pretty good laugh out of the first line: "Dear NAME" lol</p>
<p>haha somebody needs a refresher with MSFT Word's mail merge ha</p>
<p>yeah... I got it... but I am totally dropping out of this competition</p>
<p>understandable...good luck to you ice sickle!</p>
<p>I got selected as a semi-finalist too. The email was from Leigh Marlow on Feb. 23rd.</p>
<p>Today I called the NFIB Member Care Center and the guy referred me to Larry Hart at (360) 425-6220 for help on identifying a member of NFIB. So, I called the number, asked for Mr. Hart politely, the guy who answered the phone was SO RUDE!!! He said, "Larry Hart is not in the office, in fact, he's out of the country." Blah, blah, blah.
I said, "I see, I will call him back another time."
He replied annoyingly, "He's not gonna be back for--months!"
Then I asked him if he could kindly help me with the NFIB Young Entrepreneur Award and he said this word-by-word in such a cold tone:
"...I don't have time for this."
I was shocked! He didn't even say sorry! "I have no time for this." Who the hell does this guy think he is?! If he's having such a bad day, then don't take it on someone else!</p>
<p>Anyways, I said politely, "Thank you very much for your time" and he hung up like if there was no tomorrow. I wanted to say, "Thank you for BEING RUDE"
<em>sigh</em> I don't feel like continuing this semi-finalist thing, but, if it's worth trying, I will, despite how RUDE that person was. I hope he gets fired from his job. The world doesn't need any more random rude people.</p>
<p><em>sigh</em> It's okay. I'll just call the NFIB Member Care Center tomorrow and tell them about the guy, or, find another way to find NFIB Members. Should be easy hopefully. Good luck to everyone who got selected!</p>
<p>I left a message with the lady NFIB referred me to and she called me back the next day and did like a 30 minute interview. She was really nice so guess I was one of the lucky ones. </p>
<p>I got all of my materials submitted. I just modified my McKevley Foundation essay to fit this one, so the essay didn't take very long at all.</p>
<p>Even $1,000 would help. Fingers crossed.</p>
<p>Good luck amazon3001! :)</p>
<p>I called NFIB Member Care back yesterday and this time, a lady answered. She was extremely nice to me and gave me the number and name to another NFIB member.</p>
<p>Did anyone fax in their completion materials to NFIB yet? :-)
Today's the deadline.</p>
<p>Does anyone know what time is the latest we can fax it today? I am hoping its one of those until midnight deals, b/c my essay is taking longer than I expected.</p>
<p>Chet2006:
On the NFIB attachment, it says:
"2. Fax the semi-finalist completion materials to 615-627-9685 by March 23, 2007."
I'm assuming it means they HAVE TO receive your fax before 11:59 PM.
I don't know if it's EST or CST though. Good luck! :-) I already faxed in my stuff yesterday. You'll finish on time, don't worry!</p>
<p>thanks college18, I sent it in and now there is much time to worry...lol. So I guess we just wait another month now. I think this is the only scholarship I know of that asks people to fax the final paperwork in. I spent $15 faxing this application at kinkos! lol. I hope it's worth it.</p>
<p>Chet2006:
Good luck to you! :) You'll do well! Lol, I know, I think this is the only scholarship that asks people to submit papers by fax too! You spent $15 at Kinkos?! Haha, wow... Hey, it's like about the same price as sending an Express (overnight) mail, think of it that way. I sent in one of my college art portfolio by Express mail, and it was worth it! : ) I have high hopes for you!</p>