**FIRST EMAIL**/2009 FIRST Scholarships Opportunities now on Website

[Mark McLeod]

Greetings FRC Teams:

The 2009 FIRST Scholarship Opportunities are now posted on our website at: www.usfirst.org/scholarships. The display format provides a searchable scholarship database that lets you narrow your search based on the state where you want to attend college, your FIRST Program (FRC or FTC), and/or your current grade in school.

Currently nearly 120 schools or organizations throughout the country are offering from $500 to full tuition scholarships to FIRST Robotics Competition students. Nearly $10 million in scholarship funding is offered from schools like Worcester Polytechnic Institute, MIT, Florida Institute of Technology, Boston University, Kettering University, Purdue University, University of Southern California, and Tulane University.

There are scholarships specifically for engineering, computer science, technology, science, or math, and many others that can be applied to any course of study. Most scholarships are for academic achievements, but some are for financial need and others simply for participation on a FIRST team. There are plenty of scholarship opportunities for all students to consider.

We are still waiting for a few schools to update their 2008 Scholarship offerings. Their offering and application deadlines may be similar to those listed for last year, but be sure to confirm this with the scholarship provider. As new scholarships are offered and existing ones are confirmed, the website listing will be updated. So check the Scholarship website frequently.

New Scholarships for 2009
California State University, Los Angeles/Boeing
Florida A&M University/Boeing
Milwaukee School of Engineering
New Mexico State University/Boeing
Northwestern University
Plymouth State University
SME Education Foundation
Sweet Briar College
University of Minnesota/PTC
University of Washington/Boeing
Washington University St. Louis/Boeing

Seniors: Note that the following schools have deadlines coming up soon:
University of California-Davis (Nov 30)
Olin College of Engineering (Dec 1)
University of Texas-Austin (Dec 1)
University of Southern California (Dec 1)

Juniors: Note that the following schools offer scholarships to Juniors:
College of Southern Maryland
Drexel University
ITT Technical Institute
Lawrence Technological University
Polytechnic University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)
Temple University

Mentors: Please encourage and assist students in applying for scholarships. And please help get this information into the hands of parents and guidance counselors. They will definitely want to know about FIRST scholarships!

Go Teams!