Annual Graduation Scholarship

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The STORY

Ever wondered just how much of a difference high school students can make in their communities? In our 2022 scholarship program, our past winners have proven it can be profound. That’s why our 2023 Build A Better Future scholarship will also be a design thinking community improvement project based on the LAUNCH Cycle. We will award $10,000 to five new seniors, with the top recipient receiving an additional $5,000 grant to continue funding their project.

Our scholarship application process is going to look a little different this year! We have decided to offer additional guidance, coaching, and resources for our applicants. In order to do so, we will be incorporating three brainstorming opportunities throughout the year before the final submissions are due. PLEASE NOTE: The three brainstorming opportunities are completely OPTIONAL. We highly encourage taking advantage of these forms, as they can provide crucial direction and helpful suggestions.

In addition, we will be requesting multimedia content throughout the application process. Don’t forget to take pictures and videos during every phase of your project! Please make sure your content is high-quality, publishable material that is relevant to you, your project, and your community.

The PROCESS

1. Read the Rules and Terms & Conditions (below)
2. This step is completely OPTIONAL (if you miss any deadline, don't worry, you can still apply, just move to the next open option): Fill out any of our three brainstorming forms for additional guidance and suggestions.
   • Form 1: The Idea (Deadline: November 7th, 2022) No idea what to do or where to start? No problem! By filling out this form, you will receive one-on-one mentoring to help you come up with a design thinking project.
   • Form 2: Plan of Action (Deadline: December 5th, 2022) Now that you’ve started on your project, we want to hear about it! Tell us about your goals, resources, tactics, and the steps you’ve taken (or will be taking) to build up your community. If you feel stuck or unsure, this form will provide one-on-one guidance to ensure that you have everything you need to get started. If you missed the deadline for the Idea form and are still interested in coming up with a project, you can use this form for help in determining what project would best support your community.
   • Form 3: Implementation (Deadline: February 20th, 2023) This is our third and final optional form before final submissions are due and it is all about action. We want all the details about your project up to this point. Why you chose this project and the consequent goals that you set. Most importantly, we want to know HOW you accomplished your goals. Show us rather than tell us. We will provide personalized feedback and any tips we can to aid you in submitting your final application.
3. Design & work on a community improvement project, using our checklist as a guide.
4. Regardless of whether or not you filled out our first three forms, anyone who has been working on a design thinking project to build up their community is welcome to apply for our scholarship! Submit your final application by May 28, 2023 at 11:59 Mountain Time (see FAQ’s & Details page for link and details on submission requirements). If you have any questions regarding the application, you can email scholarship[at]honorsgraduation.com for assistance.
5. We will select 5 winners to receive $10,000 tuition scholarships, with the top project receiving an additional $5,000 to continue funding their project and maximize impact. We select applications based on their completion, seriousness, and viability.

REMINDER: We will be requesting multimedia content throughout the application process. Don’t forget to take pictures and videos during every phase of your project! Please make sure your content is high-quality, publishable material that is relevant to you, your project, and your community.

The RULES

• You must be a graduating high school senior that will be attending a US-based university, college, or trade school to continue your education.
• All high school seniors are eligible.

Read full terms & conditions here:

To be eligible for the scholarship, applicants must be graduating high school seniors planning on attending an accredited college or university in the United States of America. Additionally, students must have met all of the requirements described on this website (http://honorsgradu.com/). Employees of Honors Graduation and their families are not eligible to participate. Submissions must be received before the deadlines in order to qualify for the scholarship program. Mailed applications must be postmarked by that deadline. There are no citizenship requirements.

By submitting your work, you agree that we may display the project on our websites, including, but not limited to photos, links, videos, etc. This will likely only be done for winning candidates, and will only include the applicant’s name, school, and the project itself. No other personal contact information we collect will be used without explicit permission obtained beforehand via email.

Submissions will be evaluated by our judges only after all submissions have been received by the various deadlines. After carefully reviewing the available information on our site, applicants may also email the scholarship committee, (scholarship{at}honorsgraduation{dot}com), with further questions.

When choosing a winner we will be looking at:

• The quality & quantity of work already completed
• The potential for future long-term impact.
• General community relevance of the project.

Finalists may also be asked for proposals on how they would use the $5,000 grant if selected as the top recipient. As a tip for future applicants: the more specific those plans, the better (especially if they involve plans to seek additional funding or perpetuate the fund toward your project in the long term). Being a finalist does not mean you have won the scholarship, we are simply seeking more information in order to choose the top winners.

The top 5 selected entrants will, upon verification of eligibility criteria as described above, receive their one-time scholarship disbursement of $10,000 in the form of a check from Honors Graduation to the approved school or university, listing the student as the beneficiary, depending on the individual school outside scholarship policies. Awardees will be contacted by June 16, 2023 and funds will be distributed after that date. Should the $10,000 amount exceed the tuition balance for the first semester, we will instruct the college to apply surplus scholarship funds toward subsequent semesters. It is the recipient’s exclusive responsibility to ensure that funds are received by the school or university and should notify us if that does not happen within 30 days of the date the check is issued.

• Ford Institute for Community Building
• AJ Juliani and John Spencer’s LAUNCH Framework for design thinking
• Bike Utah Strategy Plan

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