How to write a winning scholarship essay - Gen Tanabe, Kelly Tanabe 2018
Activity questions
Real interview questions & answers
Q: what activities are you involved in?
For an award for student-athletes:
a: The main activities that I’m involved in are soccer, the academic decathlon and student government. I am the captain of the soccer team, which has won the county championship for the past three years. I plan to continue to play that sport in college. I’m also the co-captain of the academic decathlon team. For the first time in our school’s history we’ve made it to the state level competition. While it was a team effort, my co-captain and I recruited a teacher to coach us and organized extra study sessions that I think made the difference. My participation in student government includes serving as the vice president of our school. During my tenure I have directed our school’s international festival, canned food drive and election process.
For an award for writing:
a: My most important activity is writing for my school’s literary magazine. One piece that I wrote received an award in a writing contest. After traveling to Italy, I decided to write a creative piece about how my life would have been different had my great-grandparents not immigrated to America.
I explained what kind of relationship I would have had with my family, my education and my vocation. In my piece, I incorporated memories that my grandparents had of their home country.
comments
Don’t give a laundry list of activities. Instead of telling all 12 clubs that you are a member of, select a handful in which you’ve made significant contributions. This will be more meaningful to the selection committee and will better capture their attention. Be sure to also highlight activities that match the goal of the awards. If you are applying for a writing
award, speak about your writing experience. If you are applying for an award in medicine, speak about your medical-related experience, studies or volunteer work. Make the activities relevant to the selection committee.
Q: How have you contributed to your community?
a: One of the ways that I have contributed to my community is volunteering over 200 hours at our local library for the children’s reading program. Three times a week I go to the library after school to read stories to the children and lead them in arts and crafts activities related to the books. I do this because I think it’s important to get kids excited about reading and to expose them to new ideas. The artwork gets them to interact with the material and to be creative. I know that the volunteer work that I’m doing is making a difference because parents tell me that their children have learned to enjoy reading more because of my efforts.
a: I have contributed to my community by being a voice for teenagers. Last year there was a series of articles about how teens felt like they were second-class consumers. When we go to a store, we are frequently followed around so that we don’t shoplift or we are treated poorly because of our age.
I thought that this kind of treatment was unnecessary and wanted to send a message to the stores that were the main culprits. I organized a protest in front of four of these stores, getting teens to carry picket signs. We got media coverage, and there was another article to follow up on the changes the stores made. We were able to get the owners of all four of the stores to sign pledges to treat teens fairly.
comments
Show the judges how significant your contribution has been by describing the effects. How many people were affected? In what way? Have you been honored for your contributions? Contributing to your community can go beyond volunteering. Remember that there are other ways to play a role in your community such as being an advocate for a cause.
Your efforts do not have to be part of a formal organization or club.