Simon Strong Scholarship

Funded by
$500
1 winner$500
Awarded
Application Deadline
Mar 15, 2025
Winners Announced
Apr 15, 2025
Education Level
Any
Eligibility Requirements
Race:
BIPOC
GPA:
2.5 or higher
Background:
Non-profit or volunteering experience

Everyone deserves a fair chance at furthering their education and pursuing their dreams. 

Unfortunately, access to education often isn’t equal, with students from underserved communities often facing adversity that more privileged peers don’t have to confront. Simon M. Humphrey was passionate about helping people who wanted to further enhance their knowledge, regardless of their background. 

This scholarship seeks to honor the legacy of Simon M. Humphrey by supporting underrepresented students along their educational journey.

Any BIPOC high school, undergraduate, or graduate student who has non-profit or volunteering experience and at least a 2.5 GPA may apply for this scholarship opportunity.

To apply, tell us about a time when you faced adversity, how this experience shaped you, and what advice you would give to someone facing the same circumstances.

Selection Criteria:
Ambition, Drive, Impact
Published September 6, 2024
Essay Topic

Everyone faces adversity in their life. Tell us about you and about a time that you faced adversity. How did you overcome adversity? How did this adversity shape you? What advice would you give to someone facing the same circumstances?

400–600 words

Winning Application

Areya Doucette
Pamlico County High SchoolOriental, NC
Adversity is something no one is immune to. It happens to everyone sometime in life, no matter their race. According to zippia.com, a job listing site, only nine point six percent of people specializing in forensics are African Americans. I hope I can be part of adding more diverse ethnicities into my future profession. I grew up in a poor and severely abusive home where drugs and alcohol were a constant variable in my biological mother's life. My sister and I were forcibly removed from her care and transferred to a Mexican and then African American foster home for three years before being adopted. My older sisters and I were adopted, and my life varied dramatically for the better. My adopted mother and I spent hours bonding during my childhood while watching Dr. G and Forensic Files. I might have been uncertain about my plans after high school, but I was always confident that I wanted to make the world safer and inspire others to do the same. My mom has always had my back and encouraged me to pick a job I would be happy doing, something that would light the fires of my curiosity, and something I would not look back on later in life and be disappointed in my choice. For as long as I can remember, after being adopted, kids at school have made fun of me and called me "whitewashed" because I was polite and had manners. It doesn't bother me anymore, and I am proud of how I was raised. I know when I am in public, I can speak eloquently and present myself as the respectable young woman I am. I am ecstatic to apply for college, chase my dreams, make my parents proud, and fully commit to building and starting this new, exciting, mind-blowing, albeit slightly scary and nerve-wracking chapter of my life as an adult. No matter how hard life gets, I am ready to fight to achieve the life I deserve to live. Believing that I can help change the future, be a trailblazer, and influence others despite my rough start has kept me going even when I have doubts. Everyone should be able to rise above their pain to take control of their lives and not let it weigh them down, forging a new path for themselves despite it being challenging. Being born into a less-than-fortunate situation has made me determined to rise above and prove just because I am genetically more prone to becoming a drug addict due to my biological mother's heavy usage of drugs during her pregnancy doesn't mean I will go down the same dark path. I am in control of my life and will live it in a way that will make me truly, unconditionally happy; nothing and no one can stop you from becoming who you are fated to be.
Selamawit Alebachew
Ohio State University-Main CampusColumbus, OH

FAQ

When is the scholarship application deadline?

The application deadline is Mar 15, 2025. Winners will be announced on Apr 15, 2025.