Education & Employment: Scholarship #1

Yes All! I'm back, and in full effect! As promised a few weeks ago, I will be providing soon-to-be high school seniors (or whomever will benefit) with scholarships on a weekly basis.

So, here's the information for my first scholarship:

Writers of the Future

Amount: $500-$5000

Deadline: The Contest has four quarters, beginning on October 1, January 1, April 1 and July 1. The year will end on September 30. To be eligible for judging in its quarter, an entry must be postmarked no later than midnight on the last day of the quarter.

Applicable Majors: Science Fiction, Fantasy Writing, Horror Writing, Speculative Fiction

Scholarship Information: The Writers of the Future Contest is open to amateur writers. Your entry must be a new short story or novelette with a science fiction, fantasy, horror or speculative fiction theme, that has not been previously published. Poetry and children's literature cannot be accepted for this contest. There are four quarterly deadlines each year (September 30, December 31, March 31 and June 30) with three prizes per quarter of $1000, $750, $500 and a yearly grand prize of $4000 is offered.

For more information pertaining to this scholarship, follow this link: Writers of the Future

You can find this scholarship, and other scholarships pertaining to your major at FastWeb!!!

Education & Employment: What is a Scholarship?

For all of my readers who aren't aware of the word 'scholarship' and it's meaning, this post is being written to inform you of the benefits of scholarships and how some of them work!

Summarized, a scholarship is a form of financial aid that isn't granted through the federal government. Scholarships are awarded to help you pay for college expenses, i.e. room and board, meal plans, books, tuition & fees, etc. They are awarded to just about everyone, from athletes, volunteer students, students with high GPAs and standardized test scores, etc. The list goes on and on. Some scholarships are gender based, some are academic based (meaning you must be, say, a student majoring in a business related field in order to receive the funding). There are even scholarships for those students who wish to study abroad for a semester or two! There are partial scholarships, "full-rides", etc. I mean, the opportunities are endless!!!

What I do realize is that some students don't have access to this type of information. They are completely uneducated about the benefits of attending college, better yet, having it paid for by someone taking an interest in you! Students don't know how to get to these resources. Yes, there may be a list compiled in your counselor's office. However, that only represents a few of the thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of scholarships available to you.

Again, I suggest you all do your research! Yes, some of you may be scouted by recruiters who want you on their football team. But for others, that's not it. In Michigan, we take the MEAP test (I'm sure they've changed the name by now) in the 8th grade and the 11th grade. If you successfully pass the test in the 8th grade, you receive a $500 merit scholarship towards your college education. In the 11th grade, if you successfully pass, you receive a $2500 merit scholarship if attending college within the state and $1000 if attending outside of the state. Maybe your state has a similar test. If so, take ADVANTAGE of it, and study if you feel that you need to.

If you aren't having luck with finding them, there are sites that will help you. You can build profiles, display your likes and dislikes, interests, goals, etc. and they will match you up with scholarships based on your profile. Not only will they match you up with scholarships, but colleges, internships and jobs, as well as volunteer opportunities! How neat is that... Here are two of the sites that I frequent the most and find to be very beneficial- FastWeb and Scholarships.com. I even found my first job on FastWeb!

Many local businesses and organizations offer scholarships that you may not know about. Ask around! Search the web, use your resources to your advantage! Trust me, it pays off!

So.... Guess what?! I'll be posting scholarships on here about once a week, if time allows. Sometimes more than once, if I have a busy week ahead of me! If there are any majors or concentrations that you would like to know scholarship information on, just drop your comment here along with the major/concentration or email to missbuildingblocks@yahoo.com and that'll be my next scholarship post! Until then, I'll just post scholarships on random, yet useful, interests! STAY TUNED!