Scholarships Available

The Newtown High School Career Center publicizes all scholarships of which it is notified.

A few of the scholarships, typically national ones, request that money be enclosed with the application. The Career Center believes that students should not have to pay to apply for scholarships. If a student chooses to apply for a scholarship that charges a fee, however, the Career Center strongly advises parents and students to check its authenticity through the FTC Consumer Response Center, www.ftc.gov or 877-FTC-HELP; the National Fraud Information Center, www.fraud.org or 800-876-7060; or the Better Business Bureau, www.bbg.org or 703-276-0100.

Full details on all scholarships are available at the high school Career Center.

SPE Foundation Scholarships — High school seniors who may have a career interest in the plastics industry and who would like to study math, science or engineering should apply. Financial need will be considered. (A graduate of Newtown High School was the recipient of a $4,000 scholarship in 2006.) The scholarship application is available at www.4spe.org/foundation. All scholarships are paid directly to the recipient’s school. The deadline is January 15.

Junior Achievement Worldwide Scholarships — There are two national scholarship award programs for graduating high school seniors who have been involved in Junior Achievement. They are the Joe Francomano Scholarship and Hugh Sweeny Achievement Award. Information about these two scholarships and their applications is available from www.ja.org/Programs/programs_schol.shtml. Students must apply by February 1.

Excellence through Ethics Essay Contest — Graduating high school seniors are eligible to win a $5,000 college scholarship to be used at any college or university in the Excellence through Ethics Essay Contest. The contest is sponsored by Junior Achievement and Deloitte USA. Applicants must write an original essay of no more than 500 words that presents a solution to an ethical dilemma question. The question and all contest rules are posted at studentcenter.ja.org/aspx/LearnEthics/ethics_essay_rules.aspx. All submissions are due by January 5.

Hispanic Heritage Youth Awards — Regional and national scholarships in six different categories are being offered to graduating seniors who are of Hispanic heritage. The categories are academic excellence, community service, engineering and mathematics, healthcare, journalism and sports. Applicants must be US citizens or permanent residents and meet minimum GPA requirements. Interested students should go to youthawards.hispanicheritage.org/ for more information. The application deadline is March 6.

Hispanic Scholarship Fund — HSF is the largest provider of scholarships for Latino students. There are several types of scholarships available at this website for graduating high school seniors to use during the 2009–10 academic year. Applicants are evaluated on the following criteria: academic record, financial need, community service and personal qualities. Interested students should go to www.hsf.net. The deadline dates begin on February 18.