It’s Scholarship Season

Contributed by Guest Blogger Derrius L. Quarles, aka the MillionDollarScholar

Did you know that the months of January through April have more scholarship deadlines than all of the other months combined? That means this is the time to get off of your rump and compete for free money for college. If you haven’t started already, the things you should start working on are the four basic components of all scholarship applications:

• Personal information
• Scholarship writing (personal statement/scholarship essay)
• Scholarship resume
• Recommendations

If you have already started creating these components, that’s good…but you are not off the hook that easy! You want to now develop these components to the best possible quality before you submit any of your applications. It is best to start with the component that will take the most time and that is your writing (personal statements/scholarship essays). The greatest piece of advice I could give you in regards to your writing is to go back and check for two things: creativity and authenticity. When I say creativity I am talking about how you relay information to the reader. Have you ever heard someone say, “sometimes it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it”? That proverb is exactly what creativity in your essays is all about. You want to find small ways to make your writing unique and stand out from the crowd of other essays. I am not going to tell you specifically what you should do to make your essays more creative, because if I did, then it wouldn’t really be you that is being creative. That gets into my next point about writing: make it your own. You want to show the person or people reading your essays who you are. If you are passionate about something, I should be able to know that after reading what you wrote. If you have an idea about what you want to do for the rest of your life, make sure you show that. Lastly, complete three rounds (yes, I said three rounds) of editing where you check in all of your essays and online application content (academic info, activities, etc.). Skip over this last step only if you don’t like winning free money.

For your recommendations, you want to remember three things:

• To give the person you are requesting a recommendation from two weeks in advance from the date you want the recommendation.
• To have your scholarship writing and resume completed before you request the recommendation and give the person recommending you a copy of both
• To request a recommendation from a person that can speak on your personal character as well as other qualities such as academic performance, community involvement, etc.

It takes a lot of time to put together an entire scholarship application and I am sure you may be thinking about all of the other work and activities you may have to do. Not to worry. This season there are some new resources around to assist you with your scholarship writing and resume. You can get free writing feedback at MillionDollarScholar.com, which is a recently released website full of information and tools to help students in the process of winning scholarships. The writing feedback will provide specific advice about how to make your writing better. To help you develop your scholarship resume you can utilize the Million Dollar Scholar Resume Builder. With this tool, you can input information online that can quickly be transferred to a Word document for resume creation. This tool has been specifically set up to help you provide the information and history that most scholarships will require.

Alright scholar, you now know that it is the season of free money. You have the information and you now know about a new resource to make the process less stressful. Do not let this scholarship season pass you by!

Well, we are full throttle into the scholarship season!  If you are a student or the parent of a student, you know what I mean.  For Anchor Scholarship, in particular, this means Eligibility applications are rolling in to the tune of 30 or 40 a week.  Remember they are due in our office no later than 1 March.  A reminder to our current recipients:  you must submit an eligibility application to be considered for the Anchor scholarship this year. 

Since October, we have been busy!  We succeeded in WINNING the Race for the Pacific!  It was a real nail biter, with supporters of the USS Arleigh Burke and the USS Prout pulling us into first place in the twelfth hour!  With your enthusiasm and support, we raised over $14,000 for Anchor Scholarship…THANK YOU!!

As you can see from the flyer above, we are hosting a joint fundraiser with Wings Over America and Dolphin Scholarship Foundations-Admirals vs. the Admirals.  This is going to be a fun, family friendly evening.  Ticket sales are being tracked by community, so be sure to enter ‘ANCHOR2012’ when purchasing your tickets!!  The Surface community has the greatest presence here in Hampton Roads, so I would hope we would have the greatest presence at the hockey game!

Overall, our fundraising efforts have been admirable.  We are halfway to our goal of $150,000 this year.  Please consider supporting our mission.  There are a number of different ways to do so:

The cost of a college education is skyrocketing and there is a very real concern that the next bubble to burst will be the higher education bubble.  Let’s do what we can to mitigate the cost our young people incur as they pursue their dreams.  Scholarships are critical; invest in them and you are investing in our youth.

I recently went to the Surface Navy Association’s Symposium in Washington, DC.  This was a wonderful opportunity to thank our current sponsors, encourage potential sponsors and meet some of our recipients and their parents.  I spent a lot of time talking about our pilot program, the Scholar to Intern to Employee (SIE) program.  There’s more information on the SIE page, so I’ll just mention it here.  Basically, this program is mutually beneficial to the recipients and the supporters.  Our scholars have an opportunity to pursue internships (many of which are paid) and our supporters have an opportunity to build relationships with potential employees (post graduation).  Another big issue our young people face is finding employment after graduation to pay off the debt they have racked up!  The average graduate from a public university carries approximately $25,000 in debt!

So, as you can see, we are gearing up for a big year at Anchor Scholarship!  We look forward to working with you to make a difference in the lives of our Surface Navy dependents!

All the best,

Danielle Dawley

Executive Director

As fall settles in, so do our Anchor Scholars.  As I write this, they are well into their first semester. Hopefully, our freshmen have transitioned well and our upper classmen have hit their stride.  It may seem odd to start thinking about applying for the Anchor Scholarship already, but we are already accepting eligibility applications.  Eligibility applications must be received by 1 March …don’t wait, it’ll be here before you know it!

We have been busy here at the office…that’s right, at the OFFICE!  The Anchor Scholarship Foundation has moved into office space with Dolphin Scholarship and Wings Over America Scholarship.  We all have the same goal—awarding scholarships to our military dependents to lessen their financial burden—now we all have offices in the same space!  Please note our new address:

Anchor Scholarship Foundation

4966 Euclid Road

Suite 109

Virginia Beach, Va  23462

Phone: 757-671-3200 ext. 116

We will continue to receive mail at our P.O. Box address, but will close that 1 January 2012.

There have been a few other key updates here at Anchor Scholarship.  We now have a Facebook page.  “Like” us on Facebook and share the page.  This is a great way to spread the word about the Anchor Scholarship.  When I came aboard in March, my two primary goals were to grow the Foundation physically and fiscally.  Our efforts on Facebook, our website and Constant Contact are all steps to increase awareness about this scholarship and grow the Foundation physically.  Please help us!

As you can see from the flyer on this page, we have just launched the Race For the Pacific!  This is a fundraiser that will benefit Anchor Scholarship AND Dolphin Scholarship. This is just one way we are growing the Foundation fiscally.   Donations you make will go to the organization you specify.  Every dollar you donate does two things:  it advances the Surface forces in the virtual race and it benefits our Surface dependents!  Remember, while this is a fundraiser, it is also a competition (albeit, friendly!).  Let’s make our Surface Navy proud!

The website has been updated…take a look around.  Our website exists to inform and benefit past, present and potential recipients and supporters of Anchor Scholarship.  If you would like to see specific information or links, please let us know.

All the best,

Danielle Dawley,

Executive Director