Question: What do you get when you roll up Jif peanut butter, strawberry cream cheese and fresh fruit in a delicate crepe, cut it up into sushi-style pieces, and then serve it with pretzel rod “chopsticks” and chocolate yogurt dipping sauce?
Answer: If you’re 12-year old Alexandra Yoder, national winner of the Jif Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest, you get a mouth-watering $25,000 college scholarship prize.
And if that’s not enticing enough, consider that just like young Alexandra, scores of other kids under age 13—plus plenty of high school freshmen, sophomores and juniors—start winning college scholarships many years before they actually set foot on a college campus. Peanut butter sandwiches, it turns out, are just the beginning.
Here's how it works: A wide variety of corporations, foundations, associations and community organizations sponsor learning and recognition programs for those in elementary school, middle school and the early high school years. Because many of these programs award scholarships in the form of cash prizes, U.S. savings bonds or funds that are held until a student graduates from high school, it’s virtually never too early to launch a college scholarship search.
Some parents are surprised to learn that such programs often have nothing to do with the marks a student received on his or her last report card. On the contrary, many programs specify that entrants complete out-of-class assignments, write personal essays, deliver oral presentations, or participate in independent after-school learning projects.
To give you a better idea of what’s available, I have put together a sampler of scholarship programs and educational contests open to younger kids:
* Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision Awards: Students in grades K-12 form two- to four-person teams, develop a 20-year vision of a current technological innovation and compete for U.S. savings bonds worth $5,000 and $10,000
* Girls Going Places Entrepreneurship Award Program: Girls ages 12 to 18 who demonstrate entrepreneurship skills and make a difference in their schools are awarded cash prizes ranging from $1,000 to $10,000
* National Geographic Bee: Kids in grades 4 through 8 compete in a series of written and oral geography competitions and battle for national scholarship prizes worth up to $25,000
* Kohl’s Kids Who Care: Students ages 6 to 18 participate in a significant community service endeavor and vie for regional and national prizes ranging from $1,000 to $5,000
* Patriot’s Pen: In a contest sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, students in grades 6 to 8 write 300- to 400-word essays based on a patriotic theme and receive U.S. savings bonds ranging from $1,000 to $10,000
* Young Naturalist Awards: In this program from the American Museum of Natural History, students in grades 7 through 12 conduct their own biology, ecology or astronomy research, write a short essay about their project and stake claim to cash awards ranging from $500 to $2,500
The great thing about all of these programs is that not only do they award significant dollars for college, but they also represent fun and enriching learning experiences in and of themselves.
To uncover additional scholarship possibilities, keep an eye out for programs and contests related to your child’s after-school or summertime activities. Sign up your kids for educational “stepping-stone” programs (such as 4-H, Future Business Leaders of America, Future Farmers of America, National Junior Honor Society or Kiwanis Builders Club) that may have their own scholarship awards either right away or a few years down the line.
You can also search Internet scholarship databases such as those listed at ScholarshipCoach.com/databases. These are free online services that help match up students with scholarships that fit their profiles. Because most search databases don’t list scholarships for children under age 13 due to privacy laws, parents of younger children may need to search for scholarships as if their child is a 13-year old and then sift through the results to find programs that are also open to younger kids.
And there’s a side benefit, too: By learning how to perform this type of search when kids are young, you will be far ahead of the game when it comes time to locate additional scholarships during both senior year of high school and their college years.
Those who are really ambitious may even want to request scholarship applications for older students even when their kids are young. By taking a peek at future application questions and discussing them with your kids, everyone involved will have a better understanding of the learning experiences that can be accumulated and the action steps that should be taken today to position your family for later scholarship success.
From the thousands of scholarship seekers I’ve coached, I’ve learned that early preparation really counts. Before you can put together a prize-winning peanut butter sandwich, sometimes you first have to gather the right ingredients.
Ben Kaplan, known as "The Scholarship Coach," is one of the nation's leading experts on college scholarships, financial aid, student loans and educational savings topics. Ben Kaplan is also the publisher of the www.CityofCollegeDreams.org website and the winner of more than two dozen college scholarships worth nearly $90,000.
© 2009 BY THE BEN KAPLAN CENTER FOR EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY