Free Scholarships Blog

Hey, everyone! I hope you’ve had time to enjoy the first full week of summer in between that scholarship searching that’s been keeping you busy.

It is now the end of June, but that certainly doesn’t mean that you can’t find some good scholarships out there, and take your chance at applying for them! As we began to do during last week’s scholarship alert, we have uploaded even more special-interest scholarships which have summer deadlines, to the StudentScholarshipSearch website. Here are some brief descriptions of a few:

The Lincoln Forum Platt Family Scholarship Prize
In honor of 2011 as the sesquicentennial of the start of the Civil War, this contest challenges essayists to address President Lincoln’s adjustment as a war president during this beginning year. The essay contest is designated for full-time undergraduate students studying at American institutions, and is due on July 31. International students studying in the United States are also eligible to apply. While $1,500 will be awarded to the first prize winner, $750 will also be awarded to the second place winner, and $500 given to third place.

The Larry Crowne Fund Your Future Contest
In honor of Larry Crowne’s film release to theatres on July 1, Cinemax is sponsoring the Fund Your Future Contest, which offers up to $17,500 toward education. The grand prize winner will recieve $10,000, with second and third prize winners receiving $5,000 and $2,500, respectively. Legal residents of the United States aged 16 and older are eligible to enter before July 11.

deviantART’s Comic-Con Scholarship
As deviantART is sponsoring Artists’ Alley at Comic-Con International, they will be providing one scholarship to an emerging web-based artist, as well as one to an emerging traditionally-based comic artist. The chosen artists will be invited to spend two days at the Comic-Con convention in San Diego. This trip also includes traveling perks. All applicants will be reviewed according to a deviantART Portfolio, due by July 8.

As always, there have been other scholarships uploaded to StudentScholarshipSearch. Be sure to check those out, too, under New Scholarships. Besides that, enjoy 4th of July Weekend!

Hundreds of students nominate high school teachers and college professors in Inspiring Educator Essay Contest

QUINCY, MA (June 23, 2011) – ScholarshipPoints  (http://www.scholarshippoints.com), along with its membership base of over 2 million students, is recognizing outstanding men and women who work towards better educating the world every day. Over the last month, members of this unique college scholarship reward program were asked to submit an essay nominating an educator who has encouraged them to succeed in education, inspired members of the student body, and positively impacted their school as a whole. Over 1,000 students participated with the goal of winning a $1,000 scholarship award and a $1,000 donation to their educator’s school scholarship fund.

The top five essays were determined by the amount of feedback the each essay received through blog comments, Facebook “Likes”, and emails from fellow students and faculty. The grand prize-winner will be chosen by a panel of judges and announced on July 1st.

Kim LeMoon, a student at Rutgers University, is one of the contest finalists. In her essay, To Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores, Kim sings the praises of one of her freshman year professors. “She is the kind of teacher who created opportunities for active learning, promoting independent though and expression, rather than merely imparting information,” wrote Kim. “I hope that one day I might become the kind of professor that inspires students the way my professor has inspired me.”

To learn more about the contest and read all of the finalist’s essays, visit www.ScholarshipPoints.com/contests/inspiring-educator/.

Well, it’s official - summer has finally begun!

Congratulations to everyone who completed another year of school. To kick off the arrival of the new season, we have uploaded a few special schoarships to StudentScholarshipSearch that have summer deadlines. Here’s a bit more information about some of them:

The Abraham Lincoln Brigade George Watt Prize
The Abraham Lincoln Brigade’s George Watt Prize is open to both undergraduate and graduate United States students. Applicants have the choice to write an essay or thesis about one of the following:

1. The Spanish Civil War
2. Struggles against fascism in the 1920′s and 1930′s
3. The lifetime histories and contributions of Americans who faught to support the Spanish Republic.

Submissions written in either English or Spanish will be accepted until the July 1 deadline.

The National Society of Collegiate Scholars Award
Awarded each year to 52 new members of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, this $1,000 scholarship is awarded based on academic excellence and engaged citizenship. Applicants can apply for this scholarship before July 1, and the winners will be announced in October.

Barbara Mandigo Kelly Peace Poetry Awards
Calling all poets, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation will be accepting originial, unpublished poems until the deadline of July 1. This contest encourages poets to explore and illuminate positive visions of peace and the human spirit. Winners will be announced by October 1.

Be sure to check these new additions out, and more, at StudentScholarshipSearch.com, to ensure you start the summer off right.

First of all, thank you to everyone who made a submission to the Inspiring Educator Essay Contest. We were thrilled with the response we got to this competition. Over 1,000 ScholarshipPoints nominated educators by submitting an essay. There were some amazing essays, but unfortunately there can only be one winner!

The submission period has come to a close and the top five essays have been announced! The top five essays were determined by Facebook “Likes”, comments from fellow students and faculty members, and essay content. To view the top five essays, visit the contest homepage. Good luck to all and may the best essay win!

See the top five essays!

Submitted by Alina Garbuz (Regent University)

The success of any society depends on the amount of importance and positive action placed on education. In order to offer students a great education, there must be persons willing to take the challenge of teaching to have the chance of transforming the communities through their students. As a future graduate student, I have had the opportunity to have many teachers walk in and out of my life. One professor in particular, walked into my life six years ago, and he never left. Dr. Raymond Smith, professor at Oral Roberts University, has forever changed the course of my life.
Moving to America at the age of seven was a hard transition for me, an extremely shy and timid personality. Learning to speak another language and adapting to a culture that was a majority of minorities was hard on a young child. Teachers would walk in and out of my life, and I would remain invisible, afraid of everything and everyone. Hiding myself in a world of books and dreams of traveling and changing the world, I did not believe that I had the potential to influence like I always dreamed of. Through my love of reading and paying attention to the world systems and cultures, my heart enlarged for the people who lived less fortunately than I. Coming from an extremely poor nation, I knew the hopelessness of having little opportunity. Therefore I made sure to use all of mine. I graduated high school a year earlier in dire desire of attending college. Little did I know that meeting my Major advisor, Dr. Smith, an old retired military man and missionary, a lover of society and influence, would change the course of my life and uplift and sharpen me to be the person I am today. Dr. Smith saw the potential and the leader within me. From the first day of meeting he has been a mentor, counselor, and grandfather figure to me. He coached me through my fears and insecurities, always testing and pushing me to live, learn, and teach out of my heart. He demanded excellence, honesty, and integrity. He never missed an opportunity to offend and shake what I believed in. He encouraged me to deeply understand and be intimately acquainted with my heart and character. He never ceased to question my motives and reasons for my actions. The wisdom and counsel of Dr. Smith is imprinted within the tables of my mind and my heart. I work with children and communities now, and every day I hear the words of Dr. Smith. His wisdom is with me wherever I go and because of the great amount of time and effort that Dr. Smith invested into me, I am confident in myself and the calling to serve, through counseling, the people around me.
He is the Difference not only for me but for many other students, who today are changing the world because of one great professor.

Submitted by Jenny Quach (Westminster College)

Ms. Parker is known to be one of the most beloved teachers since her first transfer to Lakewood High School, California in the school year 2009-2010. Or, at least, that becomes apparent in the face of the many called greetings to her when she is seen. Presently, she has only been here at Lakewood for 2 years. I, Jenny Quach, am one of those students of hers the first year she entered the school as a 10th grade Modern World History teacher, and I feel positive of her competence and influence. Within the school year I’ve been with her, she has given much more of her life’s history than any other teacher I have so far known, and it is fairly understandable to say she loves her students beyond the level most other teachers do given her experience as an older woman and teacher. Despite her past misgivings, her past crises as a teacher, as a wife, as a divorced wife, as a mother, which are troubled stories she shared with all her students that many other teachers do not, she still came out inspiringly optimistic through the doors of our classroom even as a number of students added to her stress. I find it a very refreshing experience to see her work through problems with each individual student and all the students as a whole, and this only increases my reliability of her ability as an instructor on not just history, but as an adult. She not only has time for students, but gives time.
This teacher has given me much reason to depend on her for not only my education, but my future, career, and interests. Once, she was generous in allowing me to remain in her classroom after school while I awaited my mother’s arrival at Lakewood due to my missing the school bus. In that time, we conversed about books and reading, which at the time and still currently is my favorite pastime. I am not at all the type of person to discuss books unless it is to suggest particular ones I enjoy, but I found myself not only loving to talk about books I read, I also realized my preference for only specific genres of books, such as romance and adventure, can encompass my interests to read other types as well, like nonfiction. Ms. Parker has inspired me to comprehend, as well as to keep an open mind on the matter of my views for reading. She has helped to make the people of Lakewood High, including me, understand that life does not revolve only around the negativity of history-which, ironically, is what she happens to be teaching.

Submitted by Veleria Brooker (Valdosta State University)

It seems that every where I turn I cannot escape the name of “Ms. O’kelley’s daughter”. Ever since I was little, people called me that, leaving messages of “thank yous” and appreciations. And who is Ms. O’kelley? She is a proud educator who has been inspiring students to move forward for over 20 years. She has dedicated her life to the educational system, where she molds young minds into the minds of tomorrow’s leaders. Not as her daughter, but as a life student I think Veleria O’kelley should win the Inspiring Educators Scholarship.
My mother started her career at King Middle School, but it was at Walden Middle School when she came face to face with a harsh reality. “No one is promised tomorrow”, where she witnessed for the first time a student death due to a drive-by shooting. This traumatic experience would serve as one of her drives to becoming phenomenal teacher.
In the classroom, Ms. O’kelley creates an environment where her students are able to interact in creative ways. Because Georgia History can be view as a boring subject, it is imperative to keep the students active. From watching videos then playing factual jeopardy, to creating days of the past in the classroom, my mother makes sure that her student are able to obtain the information while having fun.
Ms. O’kelley’s commitment to the world of education knows no bounds. Even when faced with the challenge of Breast Cancer, she still had the strength to continue to go to work. Her students saw the motivation she had to return to work every day, never missing a beat when it came to taking charge for upcoming events. Seeing her overcome such a brutal struggle, made both her student and I realize with hard work and determination you can achieve greatness.
Ms. O’kelley’s goal is not only to “instill the ethics of knowledge” into students minds but also decrease the spread of the epidemic well known as ignorance. Students should be excited about attending school, where the environment is safe and active. As an educator, Ms. O’kelley is the right candidate for this scholarship not because she is my mother but because she is teacher who expands the minds of students beyond the limits.

Submitted by Danielle Yalch (Central Pennsylvania College)

I have this really amazing teacher in Elizabethtown area high school. She was my tenth grade teacher . She helped everyone get their work done on time and if we didn’t understand she’ll make sure you know what you are suppose to be doing so our grades will stay up. She also made her english class very fun and interesting. We played lots of educational games to helo bring us to know the concepts we needed to meet to graduate . She was my favorite teacher and I will miss her .I will alsways remember what she told us to help us through our college years.

Submitted by Rafael Rodriguez (Diablo Valley College)

I remember my first day of high school, it was a great day I felt that I was almost done with school but to tell you the truth I really felt afraid. I was afraid that I would not finish high school and that I would have a difficult time in high school. The reason I felt this way is beacuse I have a learning disability, I needed more time to be able to do what the other students were able to do. When I frist started high school I was reading at a second grade level, as you can see I was very afraid, but the great thing that happen is when I meet Mrs. Large.

Mrs. Large is the one who believed in me more than I believed in myself. When I first meet her she told me that she would help me and push me beyond my limits. I felt confident within myself because she had confidents in me, she saw something great within me that I could not see within myself. She believed in me so much that she put me in regular class, I was afraid but then I did not feel afraid for she believed in me so why couldn’t I do the same.

In ninth grade I had six classes, I got one C, two B’s, and three A’s. I couldn’t believe it but Mrs. Large could, she said “See, I told you you could do it”. In tenth grade I had six classes, I got two D’s, four B’s, and one A. eleventh grade seven classes, I started school an hour early at 7:10am with two math class AlgII/Trig and Personal Finance, I got two D’s, one C, two B’s, and two A’s. I got an A in Personal Finance and an B in AlgII/Trig. Twelfth grade five classes but with a one class at Diablo Valley College (DVC) every monday at 4:00pm to 6:00pm, high school ended at 3:10pm. I got an B in DVC and in high school one D, one C, and three B’s. Oh, I almost forgot at the end of high school I graduated and now read at a ninth grade level.

As you have readed Mrs. Large is the one who went above and beyond to help me be where I am now and because of her, I am not afraid of going beyond my limit.

Submitted by Melissa Taylor (Everett Community College)

Music has always been a passion of mine and a recent educator Richard Waldron opened new window in which I have not seen before. This window showed me to a new world of music, not just from what I learned in school growing up or from the things I tend to listen to on my own but a huge variety in which I have not been customed to. Not only was he able to open my eyes but when I struggled (A student who has been playing music since she was ten years old) he was willing to help me out and made sure that his students knew there is no wrong or right answer but its how you answer thats important. An important subject brought to our attention is how little schools are interested in putting music into education and what the importance of that could even be to a student. At face value music doesn’t seem something that can be put to life, a career but it is just simply noise. Music dives deeper than that, hundreds of research has been done to discredit the fact that music is just noise but much more of promoting a clear mind, good health and much more. Richard Waldron gave us the tools to learn about the difference of opinion in music as well as the reality. I’ve learned so much more than I could imagine I would have and I owe that to a great educator who goes above and beyond to spread his passion unto others.