Through the generosity of The Endowment in Memory of Will Updike, funding will be provided to Centennial High School for one Carson Scholar, who will receive a $1,000 college scholarship upon graduation from high school. The award is held in trust until the student is accepted to a four-year college or university. Winners receive a medal and certificate of accomplishment and are invited to be honored at a CSF Awards Banquet. Your school will also receive a trophy/nameplate to highlight the student’s accomplishments.
CHS can nominate three students to compete for one guaranteed Carson Scholarship. Only one out of the three students can win. In order to win a nomination to compete to become the CHS Carson Scholars winner you must be in 9th - 11th grade, have a strong commitment to community service, a GPA of 3.75 or above AND complete one of two essays.
Step 1 - GPA Requirements (Links to an external site.)
In order to be eligible as a Carson Scholarship recipient or to receive Carson Scholar Recognition, students must have a grade point average (GPA) of 3.75 or above on a 4.0 scale in the combined academic subjects: English/Reading/Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Foreign Languages. Applicants must submit an official report card for the current school year. It is likely that only a 1st or 2nd quarter report card is available by our deadline – that is completely acceptable. Do not submit a report card from a previous school year. Please review the GPA Requirements (Links to an external site.) to determine if you are eligible to compete.
Step 2 - Community Service
List all community service activities you have completed.
Step 3 - Essay
Essay Question Grades 9 -11 (650 word minimum, 750 word maximum):
1. Please explain how your experience volunteering and participating in community service has shaped your perspective on humanity. Elaborate on how these experiences have influenced your future ambitions and career choice.
2. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, please share your story.
Here are the categories we use to score the essay:
o CONTENT: An essay with ample information, including supporting details.
o ORGANIZATION: An organized essay with a well-developed beginning, middle and end.
o STYLE/MECHANICS & USAGE: Interesting, varied, imaginative and age-appropriate vocabulary. Correct punctuation, capitalization, spelling and paragraph distinction.
o FOCUS: Appropriate information to make the reader clearly understand the ideas being presented.
If you are eligible based on a strong proven commitment to serving your community and GPA requirements, please email your list of community service activities and your essay to Ms. O'Connor at Liz_O'Connor@hcpss.org no later than Friday, November 12th. Essays received after Friday, November 12th will not be accepted.