With children going back to school, it’s a great time to look into educational opportunities that may help prepare them for their futures—or even help with future education costs. Programs and scholarships of this nature aren’t just for college aged students but can also be for students as young as their first year of elementary school. While these may be very hard to find, we took the time to create a list of some of the great opportunities that are out there.
Scholarships
The Action for Nature scholarship award is meant to recognize students aged 8-16 that are taking action to solve tough environmental problems through their own projects. These Eco-heroes can receive a cash prizes, a certificate of achievement, and media coverage among other things.
If you have a student at home interested in design, the Stuck at Prom Scholarship is for creative high school students and designers to create a prom dress or tuxedo completely from Duct tape. This scholarship offers students $20,000 in cash prizes.
Have you ever gone to do a quick Google search and noticed the logo looks like a hand-drawn picture? That would be part of the Doodle 4 Google scholarship. The scholarship is open to children K-12 and encourages them to create their own Google logo. Winners are chosen from each group: K-3, 4-6, 7-9 and 10-12. Awards include scholarships for college as well as technology scholarships for the student’s current school.
The Paradigm Challenge is open to students aged 4-18 worldwide. The scholarship encourages students focused on one of the provided challenges like biodiversity, food security, personal health, and more. Prizes include trips as well as up to $100,000. This scholarship encourages children to be problem solvers in a changing society and environment.
The National Marbles Tournament is held in June every year for ages 7 to 14. For students to qualify for this tournament, they must have a local marble championship.
Amazing student programs
Check out Lemonade Day. This program operates in 60 cities around the country for students K-5th grade. The program, meant to spark kids’ entrepreneurial sprits, takes your child on a 14-step process to learn the basics–drawing up a business plan, figuring out their costs, setting goals, and so on. This program helps students with math, business and financial skills needed to start, own, and operate their very own business.
STARTALK offers students (K-16) the opportunity to domestically study critical languages during engaging summer experiences. The programs take place virtually as well as all over the US.
National Park Services offers several different program options for youth. They can range from Girl Scout Ranger Programs, Youth Conservation Corps, and internship for students 16-18.
Imagination Library is the best program for encouraging young readers. Dolly Parton dedicated this program to ages birth through five and provides over one million free books per moth to children around the world.
Look Locally. Many local Chambers of Commerce as well as libraries host after school programs created to help children succeed and flourish academically and socially.
Good luck with all of your student’s educational endeavors and remember- it’s the experience in the end that is most important for inspiring young minds.
By Meagan Brown
