The Electronic Security Association (ESA) is accepting applications for its 2012 Youth Scholarship Program, which will award $10,000 in scholarships to two children of active duty police officers and firefighters.
The first-place winner will receive $7,500 to put toward their college education and the second-place winner will receive $2,500. Since the ESA Youth Scholarship Program was created in 1996, the association and its affiliated Chartered Chapters have donated more than $300,000 in scholarship funds to children of police officers and fire fighters.
“The men and women of our country who serve as police officers or fire fighters are heroes and national treasures,” said ESA president Dom D’Ascoli. “The work they do in protecting our communities can never be appreciated enough. This scholarship is one of the ways we can thank our deserving public safety partners.”
Awards are based on a combination of academic achievement, national test scores, extracurricular participation and an essay. Students are awarded up to 25 points for GPA, 30 points for ACT/SAT scores, 25 points for an essay and 20 points for extracurricular activities. Points are awarded through a combination of earned academic points and judging by committee members. To be eligible to apply for the scholarship, students must be between 15 and 20 years old, a graduating high school senior, and have been accepted for admission to an accredited college or university. For the second consecutive year, homeschooled students will be eligible to compete.
All applicants must provide a transcript with a calculated cumulative GPA through 11th grade to be eligible. Each eligible student must have a father, mother or natural guardian who is an active duty, full-time police officer, fire fighter or volunteer fire fighter. Students will be required to write an essay titled, “What it means to me to have my parent or guardian involved in securing our community.”
Students residing in a state with a participating ESA Chartered Chapter must enter through their state-level scholarship program to be considered for the national awards. The winners from each state chapter are automatically considered for the national scholarship. Students who reside in a state without an ESA chapter or in a non-participating state will submit their applications directly to ESA. The deadline for students in non-participating chapters to submit applications is March 30, 2012. Participating chapters may have earlier deadlines. Students must contact their state chapter for specific deadline information. For complete scholarship rules and a list of participating states, visit ESA’s website at ESAweb.org/scholarship.
