San Benito High School seniors will have the opportunity to get
a free ride to college
– depending on which college they go to – with a $60,000
scholarship being offered by the Elks Lodge.
San Benito High School seniors will have the opportunity to get a free ride to college – depending on which college they go to – with a $60,000 scholarship being offered by the Elks Lodge.
Each year the Elks Foundation holds the nationwide “Most Valuable Student” scholarship contest, which awards 500 scholarships to students each year. One male and one female in the country will each be awarded a $60,000 scholarship, while two awards of $40,000, two of $20,000 and 494 of $4,000 will also be given.
Three graduating seniors from San Benito County will receive $4,000 scholarships. These winners will then compete against other scholarship winners for the district scholarship of $20,000. Those who qualify go on to compete for the state scholarship of $40,000, then those winners vie for the $60,000 scholarship.
The problem is, not many San Benito County graduating seniors apply for the Elks scholarships.
“We don’t get as many applications as we like. We’d rather have more,” said Geoffry Holland, Hollister Elks Lodge scholarship chairman. “On average we probably get between 12 to 14 applications each year.”
The application is lengthy and can take a student five to 10 hours to fill it out, Holland said.
Any high school senior who is a U.S. citizen is eligible to apply. Male and female students compete separately and are judged on scholarship, leadership and financial need, except for the local award, which is based on merit alone.
The largest Elks scholarship given to a San Benito County student was at the state level, an award of $40,000, Holland said.
“Youth is something the Elks work towards a lot of time,” he said. “Anything to do with kids, the Elks Lodge is really interested in doing.”
Applications are available at local high schools, the Hollister Elks Lodge on Astro Drive at the Hollister Airport, online at www.elks.org/enf/scholars, or by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope to the Elks National Foundation, 2750 N. Lakeview Ave., Chicago, IL 60614.
