Community Service Scholarships
Sure there are community service scholarships available. Colleges and universities pride themselves on their abilities to mold students into well-rounded, compassionate, and community-minded individuals after a period of just four short years. While a liberal arts education is certainly a valuable thing and attending college can undoubtedly make a huge difference in your life and worldview, there is no rule saying that you have to wait until you’ve arrived on campus to start getting involved in the community. Colleges, scholarship providers, and the world at large can appreciate a student who takes an interest in making a difference in the world.
Benefits of Community Service
Participating in community service activities as a high school student can be hugely beneficial, and not just when it comes to acing your college interview. Students who get involved can expect all sorts of great things to come of their extracurricular work, including:
-
Work and Life Experience
Students who participate in community service activities related to their future career goals can get a leg up on the competition and the college planning process by gaining real-world experience in their chosen field. Volunteering can also improve students’ skill sets and help prepare them for work experiences totally unrelated to their community service work.
-
Connections
The people you meet while volunteering can help you throughout your life. They can write letters of recommendation for your college and scholarship applications, they can serve as references when you try to find jobs, and they can potentially help you find a paid position in their area of expertise. At the very least, working with others gives you a chance to build networking skills, which will come in handy later in life.
-
A Broader Worldview
You meet all sorts of people and learn all sorts of new things while doing community service. You may be exposed to people and activities you would have never encountered had you stayed home, and they can shape the direction of your life and the way you view the world around you. Community service can even give you a sense of purpose and direction in your later activities.
Opportunities for Community Service Scholarships
Volunteering in your community can also lead to community service scholarships. When it comes to scholarship opportunities, community service can help to distinguish you from the competition by showing your commitment to making the world a better place. Scholarship providers, being philanthropists themselves, can appreciate students who show an early interest in helping those around them. Winning scholarships, whether they are specifically labeled as community service scholarships or more general contests that might not even mention volunteer experience as a criterion, can be much easier with a bit of community service experience listed on your application or worked into your scholarship essay.
Whatever the requirements, scholarship awards for community-minded students abound, and all you need to do to start funding your education is find and apply for scholarships like these. Luckily for you, Scholarships.com makes that easy. Simply conduct a free college scholarship search, making sure to note your penchant for volunteering in your profile, and then as simple as that, you’ll be provided with a list of scholarship opportunities tailored to your unique background and experiences. All you have to do from there is read the scholarship information, fill out an application, and wait for the scholarship money to start rolling in! As a small sample of what you’ll find in our database, listed below are some popular community service scholarships. You can find these and others by conducting a scholarship search.
Alliant Energy Community Service Scholarship
Application Deadlines:
February 15, Annually
The Alliant Energy Foundation is offering a new scholarship opportunity to recognize outstanding community leadership in young people and help students reach their academic goals. Up to 25 $1,000 scholarships are awarded to Midwest students annually through the new Alliant Energy Foundation Community Service Scholarship Program.
Award selection is based on participation in a leadership role in [...] More
The Disneyland Resort Scholarship Program
Application Deadlines:
January 31, Annually
The Disneyland® Resort Scholarship Program – Celebrating Community Service, will award $5,000 scholarships to 10 high school seniors who have demonstrated excellence in volunteerism and leadership and who are committed to making a difference in our community.
By granting scholarships to students who strive to improve their local community, the Disneyland® Resort aims to make the dream of [...] More
Prudential Spirit of Community Awards
Application Deadlines:
November 13, Annually
The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards program is the United States' largest youth recognition program based exclusively on volunteer community service. The program was created in 1995 by Prudential in partnership with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) to honor middle level and high school students for outstanding service to others at the local, state, and [...] More
Samuel Huntington Public Service Award
Application Deadlines:
January 18, Annually
The Samuel Huntington Public Service Award offers a $10,000 stipend to a graduating college senior to undertake a one-year public service project anywhere in the world immediately following graduation.
Students are encourage to develop their own proposal for public service in the U.S. or abroad. The proposal may encompass any activity that furthers the public good. Students do not need to be a [...] More