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Venture Scholars Criteria:

The Venture Scholars award is primarily a merit scholarship. It recognizes students who have these qualities:

  • Career Focus

Career focus means dedication to a future career. This is reflected by the student's high school coursework, extracurricular activities, volunteer work, hobbies, and paid work, if any. Career focus also means having a realistic plan for achieving the necessary career training after high school.

  • Personal Development

This means demonstrating initiative and commitment. Examples include participation in extracurricular activities like scouting, sports, volunteer work, or paid work.

  • Academic Achievement

This is reflected in the requirement for a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5.

Also:

    • Financial need is considered as a tie-breaker between candidates with similar qualifications.
    • Careers requiring artistic talent (such as music, dance, or art) are generally not funded by Venture Scholars.
    • Venture Scholars does not make awards for religious training.
    • Venture Scholars may limit its awards to students planning careers such as nursing where there may be a shortage of places in the training programs available to the students.

Venture Scholars applications are provided at each school's career center and at the counseling office.

While applications vary somewhat by school, the following questions are typically included on the applications:

  1. Tell us about your career goal. What inspired you to choose this career?  Please make sure that the career path you are choosing is one that you can achieve in community college or a career training program.
  1. Explain which school you plan on attending and why you have chosen the school.  Please look up the classes that you will need to complete in order to receive your degree or certificate. State the total number of units that will be required as prerequisites and to complete your degree.  State the month and year that you expect to receive your certificate or degree and the type of degree you will receive.  Also state if there is a lottery to get into the program or a required test score or grade point average? 
  1. What is your current grade point average?  You must have a 2.5 overall GPA to be eligible for this scholarship (consideration will be given to students that have shown significant improvement over the last four terms).  Also, tell us about your favorite high school subject (s), and why it is your favorite.  Attach current transcript (available from the Counseling Office).
  1. Please tell us about any work experience you have had and any extra-curricular activities you have been involved in.
  1. Describe some of the skills that you already have, that you think will help you succeed in your training program and your chosen career.  (Some examples might be: computer repair, writing, word processing, money management, study skills).
  1. State your reasons for requesting this scholarship.  Describe any circumstances the selection committee should consider, particularly those that establish financial need.  (These include things like the number of people in your household, income of your supporting parents, etc.  These applications are completely confidential.)
  1. Please enclose a letter of recommendation from a teacher/counselor, employer, clergy, or community leader.