Team Scholarship?
 

This is the second try at posting this. Sorry if it gets duplicated somehow.

Hi there! I am the coach for team #4980 and I have a question about offering a scholarship for senior members of the team. It occurred to me today that we could offer a scholarship out of our team funds for a senior that particularly exhibits the FIRST philosophy. This would be kind of like a Dean's List award or an individual Chairman's award. I want to promote our students going out and making change in their community. We have a tough community for STEM related things. It is a basketball/football small-town community that unfortunately sells itself short sometimes. Could this motivate our students to make stronger connections with our community and start a culture change? It is also part of what we do, which is get kids ready for college and prepared to be fantastic adults!

My question is if other teams do this? What impact have you seen because of it? Any other advice is welcome!

Thanks,
Naomi
#4980 Coach

Re: Team Scholarship?
 

Sounds like a fantastic idea! In addition to encouraging more community outreach, it may also encourage more students to join, and be very involved with, the team. A local scholarship that only has 5 to 15 (I'm not sure how large your team is) students applying makes for pretty good odds.

There aren't any teams that I personally have spoken to which provide a scholarship for their students, but I'm sure some team out there does. Though it isn't exactly the same, I know Optimal Robotics is offering a scholarship this year (http://optimalrobotics.net/2015/03/0...-scholarship/).

Re: Team Scholarship?
 

We are doing this for the first time this year. Actually thanks to the generosity of two of our team alumni. We have two scholarships, with similar but slightly different focuses. My track team, through our track booster organization, has had this for the past five or six years, and it certainly encourages (and rewards) outstanding leadership.

Re: Team Scholarship?
 

Our team has 4 scholarships we give out at the end of the season. Seniors are chosen according to grades, leadership, years in program and hours of participation. One of the scholarships is funded by the mentors/coaches.
We fund the others out of the teams money. These are $500 scholarships. It is a privilege to help out those who have shown the passion and commitment to team and all other aspects of their lives.

Re: Team Scholarship?
 

Thanks for your helpful replies. This seems like something we would like to pursue for sure. I was worried that there might be a reason not to do it but, it sounds like if we can manage it, then it's worth doing. I really want to see our team be more active in the community as well as show the community that we aren't just a money sucking club. :)

We will be at World in a couple weeks and I think I will try to run around and talk with other teams about this and how they manage it. I would like to hear everything from criteria to money management.

How do you give the money out? Directly to the school or just cut a check in the student's name?

THanks!

Re: Team Scholarship?
 

I'll probably bring up this idea to our lead mentor sometime in the future, it seems like a great idea that would help graduating seniors get through college and graduate feeling honored by their team while it would also encourage underclassmen to work harder in hopes of winning the scholarship.

Re: Team Scholarship?
 

Truck Town Thunder has been doing this for a decade. We give seniors $1000 for books and supplies for college. Let us know if you have any questions.

Re: Team Scholarship?
 

Our team is actually raising funds right now to do this exact thing at next year's team banquet after one of our PR members suggested it :)

We're planning for a $500 scholarship for seniors :)