January 28, 2015 MEMORANDUM FROM: Rodney Scott, Scholarship Committee Chairman TO: Northern Virginia Public High Schools Northern Virginia Community College, Pathway Program RE: Martin Luther King, Jr. Cultural Foundation 2015 Scholarship Award Welcome to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Cultural Foundation, Inc., scholarship application process. The scholarship is presented each year to deserving and qualified students who attend Northern Virginia Public High Schools and the Northern Virginia Community College Pathway Program. Our application process has changed somewhat this year in that the students will be submitting all information online except for a copy of the their official transcript which will be sent by their schools. The completed application must be submitted to the site no later than Friday March 6, 2015 . Students will be contacted no later than Friday March 27, 2015 as to the results of the selection of winners for 2015. The requirements for both Northern Virginia Public High School students and the NVCC Pathway Program are explained completely within the application. If there are questions or concern, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected]. Last year the foundation presented several award and we look forward to repeating a similar number this year. We hold a scholarship gala each year and will again host the event Thursday April 16, at the McLean Hilton Hotel. All scholarship recipients are requested to attend in that the gala is held in their honor and the cost is paid by the foundation. More importantly is the fact that the recipients have the opportunity to meet the benefactors of their awards. The dollar amount of the scholarship is $4000 -‐ $2000 is sent to the student’s college financial aid office the first year and the additional $2000 is sent at the beginning of the next academic year if the students grades are adequate and they have been in contact with their mentor who is assigned after being named an award winner. We look forward to working with all of the students and thank you for assisting us in supporting the students who apply for the award. We received sponsorship from GOOGLE, Inc., Reston, VA and Hewlett Packard, Corp, so we are particularly interested in your students with interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S.T.E.M.). NOTE: Due to rules that govern the MLK Foundation, Inc., all awards must be distributed during the 2015-‐2016 academic year (August 2015 to June 2016.) The award will be sent to the college or university prior to the student’s arrival. There will be no deferment of the awarded funds to another school year and no funds can be issued in the name of the student. The funds will be designated and placed in the students account at the school they will be attending at the beginning of their 2015 academic year. All financial obligations made prior to the arrival of the foundation funds in the students account become the responsibility of the student, e.g., summer school or related matters. All students will be assigned a mentor after being named an award winner. It is the student’s responsibility to be in contact with that mentor. This is done in an effort to make sure award winners have a reliable source to discuss their issues while attending college. Also students are to report their grades at the end of their first academic year so the additional $2000 in funding is secured prior to the beginning of the second year of college.