High School Seniors: Become an ACLU Youth Activist Scholar!
November 13, 2009
We regret to inform you that due to a funding shortfall, the 2009 ACLU Youth Scholarship Award you received information about (and may have started applying for) is no longer being funded this year.
However, the ACLU of Massachusetts has decided to offer one or more Civil Liberties Activist Scholarships of $1,000 for the 2010-2011 school year. The criteria for selecting the award winners will be the same as for the original scholarship, and the application process will remain unchanged as well.
While we realize that this new scholarship would not help your college financing to the same degree as the larger national scholarship, we still hope you will complete the application process for the Civil Liberties Activist award. The ACLU's original intent, and our continued goal, is to help recognize and reward those who stand for civil liberties, tolerance, free speech, and equality.
Thank you for your ongoing activism. If you do decide to complete the application process, we will be in touch!
ACLU of Massachusetts Youth Scholarship Committee
We are looking for students who have stood up for civil liberties, tolerance, free speech, and equality! Past scholarship winners were recognized for a wide variety of civil liberties activism including:
• Creating and teaching a class for middle school students that aimed to lower the risk that they would enter into the "school-to-prison" pipeline
• Challenging a principal’s policy of punishing students for writing “gay pride” on their arms and notebooks
• Advocating on behalf of Native American youth in the juvenile justice system
• Producing and hosting a youth radio program focusing on LGBTQ rights and issues
• Working with school officials to ensure that intelligent design would no longer be taught in the public schools
• Starting an organization to get teen girls involved in the decisions that effect them, such as policies on sexual harassment and access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare
To qualify for the scholarship you must:
• Have demonstrated a strong commitment to civil liberties through some form of activism
• Be a high school senior planning on entering an accredited college or university as a full-time, degree-seeking student
• Have attained a cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale at the time of graduation
• Not be a current ACLU plaintiff or witness in a legal case
Activists who complete the application forms will be judged on the following standards (in order of importance):
• The strength and depth of the candidate’s contributions to civil liberties
• Demonstrated leadership
• The likelihood of the applicant continuing commitment to civil liberties in the future
• Commitment to academic excellence
• Demonstrated financial need
Your application will be reviewed by the Youth Scholarship Coordinating Committee at the ACLU of Massachusetts, which is responsible for nominating qualified students for the ACLU Youth Activist Scholarship.
You will need to provide personal information on the next page, and download forms to provide the following by mail:
• Authorization and Parental Consent form
• Recommendation
• High School Transcript
• A 1,000-word essay describing your civil liberties activism
Deadline for submissions is NOVEMBER 15, 2009.
If you’re qualified and are passionate about protecting and fighting for liberty and justice for all, click here to apply for the ACLU Youth Activist Scholarship!
>>> CLICK HERE TO PROCEED TO APPLICATION >>>
Please Note: The purpose of the ACLU Foundation scholarship is to provide young civil liberties activists with financial assistance in obtaining a college degree. The scholarship is intended to pay for tuition and room/board for the recipient’s first year of college, and will be sent directly to the college’s office of financial aid. In the event that the recipient should receive a full scholarship from his/her college and does not need to pay for these expenses, the scholarship can only be used for other direct educational expenses for the recipient’s first year of college , to be distributed through a school-sanctioned account, i.e. a student account in the official school bookstore. The scholarship can not be used for specific or individual purchases, such as a computer, lab fees, or items for a dorm room. Any remaining funds that cannot be used by the recipient for direct educational expenses will be given to the recipient’s nominating ACLU affiliate to be used for youth outreach and programming. All funds must be distributed by February 2011 and any remaining amount will be similarly given to the nominating affiliate. Funds can only be distributed once, and any additional scholarship funding that is sent to the affiliate can not be recalled. No funds can be given directly to the scholarship winner into a private account, and funds can not be sent to the university and then reimbursed as cash to the recipient.
