This Semester Focus On Applying For Local Scholarships, PART 2

As discussed in my previous blog, local scholarships are worth applying for because the competition is minimal and the odds of winning are good. For these reasons, I recommend college-bound seniors apply for all scholarships offered by their local civic organizations, businesses, and scholarship foundations.

Local scholarships are typically awarded based on extracurricular activities and community service. Outstanding grades and excellent SAT/ACT scores will get the attention of scholarship selection committees, but it’s the QUALITY of students’ extracurriculars and community service that actually wins the money. So even if your grades are not outstanding, but the quality of your volunteer activities and community service are, you should apply for as many local scholarships as possible.

When applying for local scholarships, emphasize your volunteer work as it pertains to the scholarship you’re applying for. For example, if a Women’s Club scholarship is offered, try to emphasize in your application, essay and interview how your volunteer work has in some way helped women in the community. If a scholarship is offered by a teaching organization, stress how your volunteer work allowed you to teach others something of value (such as teaching your fellow students how rewarding it is to help people or how teaching math to elementary students one afternoon per week is a great experience).

As mentioned above, the competition for local scholarships is typically minimal. I personally have seen a male student win a scholarship “for females only” because he was the only student applicant. Who knows what prompted this male student to apply, but no one laughed when he received a check for $1,500. Also, I have seen a situation where only 26 students have applied for 30 available $1,000 renewable scholarships; no additional applications were received so all 26 applicants were instant winners.

So seniors, during this spring semester watch for announcements of local scholarships in your high school bulletin and local newspaper, and from your counselor and parents’ employers. Apply for all scholarships offered.

If you’re considering applying for a local scholarship, don’t let application burnout and senioritis get the better of you. At the end of this school year you don’t want to be talking about all the scholarship money you SHOULD have won, but didn’t apply for.

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