Attention San Benito High School seniors: If you’re short, tall,
left-handed or have the last name Zolp, there’s free money
available for you to attend college.
Hollister – Attention San Benito High School seniors: If you’re short, tall, left-handed or have the last name Zolp, there’s free money available for you to attend college.
Although some students automatically link the word “scholarship” to “good grades,” several organizations offer students help with paying for college while giving a nod to a spectrum talents, characteristics and idiosyncrasies.
Some of the scholarships are downright wacky, but with many of the deadlines fast approaching, it can’t hurt to explore all of the options.
Talent-based
Take the Chick and Sophie Major Memorial Duck Calling Contest, for instance, which awards a total of $2,500 to high school seniors who have a knack for calling ducks. Contestants have up to 90 seconds to demonstrate four calls: hail, feed, comeback and mating.
Not to fret. Talents other than calling ducks also can yield scholarships.
For the creative types, the National Make It Yourself With Wool competition offers up to $2,000 for knitting wool garments. Entries are judged based on creativity, presentation and coordination of yarn, garment style and design.
Knitting takes time to learn, but almost anyone can craft prom attire out of duct tape, which could earn $2,500 from the Duck Brand Duct Tape “Stuck on Prom Contest.” Couples who stitch their prom dresses, tuxedos and accessories out of duct tape can send in a photograph of themselves on prom night and be judged based on originality, use of color, workmanship and quantity of tape used.
Other types of artists can enter the Illustrators of the Future Contest, which awards up to $4,000 for black-and-white works illustrating a science fiction or fantasy story.
Skateboard enthusiasts with a GPA of 2.5 or higher can win up to $5,000 through the Patrick Kerr Skateboard Scholarship. If you’re more of a homebody, a tasty apple pie can reap rich rewards from the Culinary Institute of America’s All-American Apple Pie Recipe Contest. First prize is a $25,000 scholarship to the institute, while second and third prizes are $15,000 and $10,000 scholarships, respectively.
Physical characteristics
Some scholarships pay homage to genes.
Tall Clubs International, a social organization for tall people, offers a scholarship for men younger than 21 who are at least 6 feet, 2 inches tall and women younger than 21 who are at least 5 feet, 10 inches tall. Conversely, students who are 4 feet, 10 inches or shorter can obtain scholarships from the Little People of America, a nonprofit association for short people.
Left-handed students planning to attend Juniata College, a liberal arts college in central Pennsylvania, can win up to $1,000 through the Frederick and Mary F. Beckley Scholarship.
Local scholarships
A number of local, regional and state organizations offer students a variety of ways to help pay for college.
The Gilroy Elks Lodge offers a total of $5,000 in scholarships, some for vocational training, to anyone living in Gilroy, Morgan Hill or San Juan Bautista. The San Benito County Cattlewomen’s Association offers scholarship for local women whose mother, grandmother or aunt is a member of the organization. Students interested in pursuing agricultural studies can win scholarships from the California Farm Bureau Scholarship Foundation, which in recent years has awarded up to $2,750 to 30 or more recipients.
Santa Clara County and its sister county, the Province of Florence in Italy, offer a $3,000 scholarship for students living in Santa Clara County attending San Jose State, Santa Clara or Stanford universities, who want to study at accredited universities in Florence.
The Italian Catholic Federation awards students who are of the Catholic faith and Italian heritage who meet certain academic, financial and character criteria. First-year scholarships are $400 and are awarded to approximately 200 applicants from public and Catholic high schools in California, Arizona, Nevada and Illinois. First-year scholarship winners are eligible for second, third and fourth year awards of $500, $600 and $1,000, respectively.
Numerous other local scholarships are offered by various clubs and organizations.
Subject-based scholarships
Although plenty of scholarships are available for common college majors such as business and law, more obscure subjects also get some attention.
For aspiring winemakers, the American Society for Enology and Viticulture awards several scholarships to students studying grapes or winemaking. Students interested in spores, mold and fungus can win up to $2,000 from the Mycological Society of America.
A passion for UFOs, ghosts and extrasensory perception could earn students $3,000 toward a degree in the science of parapsychology from the Eileen J. Garrett Scholarship. Female music students who can “sing or play the national anthem with sincerity,” according to DePauw University’s Web site, can win the Icy Frost Bridge Scholarship to DePauw, named for the sister of university alumnus Jack Frost Bridge.
What’s in a name
If all else fails, the key to a scholarship might be in a name – a last name, that is.
The Zolp Scholarship is awarded to students attending Loyola University in Chicago who are Catholic and whose last name by birth is Zolp. And Texas A&M University offers full tuition to anyone whose last name is Scarpinato by birth or marriage.
Better begin the search for the single Scarpinatos of the world.
Katie Niekerk is a staff writer. Reach her at 408-842-6400 or at kn******@gi************.com.
