PickAScholarship.com

A few years ago, convincing someone that athletics or any sports-related activities would be eligible for a scholarship would be very difficult. Academic athlete awards have been able to change that mentality.

Things have evolved in all dimensions of life, including the academic world. These days, participating in academy-related sports activities can earn you various scholarships, including Scholar-athlete awards.

Also, being involved in social activities and dispositions of leadership qualities, or having a trace of organizational skills, can expose you to a certain number of opportunities, including scholarship opportunities.

This is because most scholarship platforms now look beyond academic excellence when it comes to eligibility, they now focus on the threats or passion that a person possesses as criteria for awarding the scholarship.

The scholarship is designed for first-year college students with a high school GPA of 3.50 or better. The table of contents below will shed more light on why you need this scholarship and how to apply.

Scholar-Athlete Awards

Scholastic Athletics Awards is one of the scholarships that does not depend on academic excellence but also on how good and a mast an individual you are when it comes to athletics.

The Scholar-Athlete Scholarship has a variety of sponsorship platforms, and that is one of the reasons why the eligibility requirements of the application criteria fluctuate, that is, they vary annually.

An individual may have qualified for the scholarship last year, but will not be qualified for this year’s scholarship opportunity due to constantly changing electricity requirements.

The Scholar-Athlete Awards have been an annual initiative of the Columbus Dispatch for more than 20 years. In that time, more than $1 million in scholarships have been awarded to graduating elite seniors.

This June 6th will mark our third annual LIVE recognition event for these Scholar-Athletes and the community.

That night, we will recognize the top male and female graduates from 117 area high schools for their academic, athletic, leadership, and service achievements. Twenty-two students will take home $94,000 in college scholarships.

This award is available for basketball, baseball, cross country, track, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, and women’s volleyball. Recipients of these awards are determined by Coaches based on demonstrated talent and skill. If the athlete has an ACT of at least 27, she is eligible for this award.

MHSAA Scholar-Athlete Award  

For the first time, all steps of the Scholar-Athlete Awards process will be online without any paperwork.

Students will complete the entire application online, including athletic experiences and other extracurricular activities, short answer questions, and essays. Students can upload letters of recommendation or let recommenders upload them themselves. Finally, our judges will also review and score the online applications.

Otherwise, the Scholar-Athlete Award program is the same as in previous years. We request the same background information, short answer questions, and essays, and we grade applications using the same point system as in previous years.

who is eligible

Eligibility criteria have not changed from previous years. Seniors with an unrounded GPA of 3.50 or better who have earned a varsity letter in an MHSAA-sponsored sport are eligible to apply.

How many students can apply?

Schools are limited to the number of students that will be considered for the award. Class A schools can nominate 6 boys and 6 girls, Class B can nominate 4 boys and 4 girls, Class C can nominate 3 boys and 3 girls, and Class D can nominate 2 boys and 2 girls.

As in previous years, you can get more students through the application process. After the deadline and before judging, we will review the list of completed applications and look for schools that have more applicants than allowed.

We will contact the athletic director and ask what applications we should consider for the award. ALL applicants, including those not considered for the award, will be recognized with a certificate.

How do students apply?

Direct students to mhsaa.com/scholarship to start the application process.

Once there, students will create an account. Finally, students must enter the Access Code provided by the MHSAA.

At this point, students can begin to complete the different parts of the application. If they leave the app, they will pick up where they left off when they return. Students also need two letters of recommendation.

Students can upload PDFs or Word documents themselves or use the system for recommenders to upload recommendations.

How should I train my students?

This document gives advice for students to complete the application.

How many students will win and when will they be announced?

We will select 32 winners in total: 6 boys and six girls from Class A, four boys and four girls from Class B, three boys and three girls from Class C, two boys and two girls from Class D, and two overall winners for minority applicants.

Winners will be announced throughout February and honored during the Men’s Basketball Finals on March 16.

What is the deadline for the Scholar-Athlete Award?

The deadline is November 30 at 4:00 pm All parts of the application must be completed at this time.

Prior information about the scholarship

Am I eligible to apply?

Seniors with an unrounded GPA of 3.50 or better who have earned a varsity letter in an MHSAA-sponsored sport are eligible to apply.

How do I sign up?

Go to mhsaa.com/scholarship

Create Account

Ask your school’s athletic director for the access code. Click the blue “Verify Eligibility” button, enter the access code, and start the application process.

What are the different parts of the app?

Applicant Information

List of athletic teams and extracurricular activities focused on achievement and leadership positions

Two short answer questions about how athletics and other activities have prepared you for life after high school. 500 essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.

Two letters of recommendation

How are letters of recommendation presented?

There are two options for submitting your two letters of recommendation.

You can upload the two letters yourself. You can enter the email addresses of the two recommenders and they will be sent simple instructions to add their letters to your account.

What is the schedule?

The deadline is Friday, November 30 at 4:00 pm The 120 finalists will be announced at the end of January and the 32 winners will be announced throughout February. Winners will also be invited to MSU’s Breslin Center to be honored during one of the

MHSAA Men’s Basketball State Finals games.

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, please contact Paige Winne at MHSAA: [email protected] or 517-332-5046.

Helpful Tips for Applicants

This is an online application

Go to mhsaa.com/scholarship to create an account and start the process. Contact your school’s athletic director for an access code. You must have this code to continue the process.

Please note that the school is limited in the number of students who can apply for the award. The online application and process should seem very intuitive.

Email notifications will be sent to you throughout the process. You can start the application, complete part of it, and then come back later to pick up where you left off. Be sure to reapply before the November 30 deadline.

Decide if you are going to upload the letters of recommendation yourself or if you are going to invite the recommenders to write a letter and upload it themselves.

VERY IMPORTANT: If you have your recommenders upload themselves, you must log back into the system and click “Mark Complete” in the “Request Letters of Recommendation” section.

When you finish the application form and letters of recommendation, click the blue “Review and Submit” button. After reviewing, click “Submit Your Application” to finish the application process.

Don’t wait until the last minute

There are several parts to the application, so don’t delay.

Contact the two people who will be writing your letters of recommendation and give them plenty of time to submit a great letter on your behalf.

Write, edit, and rewrite your essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics. 500 words are the maximum for this essay.

Know how applications are judged

Essay (40%): Be creative in telling the judges why sportsmanship is important to educational athletics.

VERY IMPORTANT: Judges will read dozens of essays – make yours stand out! Tell the judges a personal story about sportsmanship; don’t give them Webster’s definition of sportsmanship.

Extracurricular Activities Form (30%) – Focus on significant leadership experiences and significant athletic achievements and academic awards won. The judges look for the quality of the experiences, not the number of occasions.

Short Answer Questions (20%): Please use this space to tell us more about how you have personally benefited from being active, both with school sports and outside-of-school activities. 

These are not throwaway questions; consider them mini-essays. Letters of Recommendation (10%) – Approach coaches, teachers, school administrators, youth group leaders, or others in your community to write letters of recommendation so the judges can learn more about you.

Thirty-two (32) student-athletes will win a $1,000 scholarship. A graduated scale based on the MHSAA enrollment ranking will award the first 30 scholarships.

In Class A, six boys and six girls will be selected as winners. Four boys and four girls from Class B schools will be selected as scholarship recipients, while three boys and three girls from Class C and two boys and two girls from Class D schools will receive the $1,000 scholarship.

The final two general scholarships are designated for minority applicants and will be chosen after the first 30 scholarship recipients have been selected.