Hollywood Celebraties, Students In Hawaii Benefit From Scholarship Programs

Students In Hawaii Benefit From Scholarship Programs

Being 2,000 miles away from the rest of the United States kind of forces the state of Hawaii to do a number of things on its own. One of those things is finding ways to reward its most academically gifted students. The state relies on a number of independent organizations to produce merit-based awards, and they most certainly do rise to the occasion.

The first, and probably the biggest, is the Hawaii Education Association (HEA). It's an independent, non-profit and self-governing group that is composed primarily of active and retired educators and school administrators. It sponsors its share of contests, education programs, and scholarships.

The first scholarship is the HEA High School Student program. To apply, a student must supply academic transcripts, a personal biography, a photograph, and a FAFSA form. If qualified, the student receives $2,000. There is also the HEA Undergraduate Scholarship, which is for full-time students, except for freshmen. It, too, awards $2,000 and is renewable.

From there, the HEA focuses on providing more educators in the system. First is the HEA Student Teacher scholarship. This plan is open to undergrad and post-graduate education majors, so they don't have to work while going to school full-time. It will give them up to $3,000 a year. The other is the HEA Educator program, which targets teachers who already have their BS or BA in Education. It will give them $1,000 towards post-graduate work.

The HEA also helps administer a number of endowments, most prominently, the Faith T. Ai Lai group of scholarships. The first of these is the Undergraduate Teacher plan, which is again for educators. This program requires maintaining a 3.5 grade point average and also being a student-teacher. If the applicant meets these demands amongst others, he or she will get $5,000 a year. If he or she goes on for post-graduate work, there is the Lai Advanced Degree program, which will maintain that $5,000 a year scholarship.

If a student is interested in pursuing a career in business as opposed to education, they should inquire about the Fukunaga Scholarship Foundation. To start with, an applicant must maintain a 3.0 grade point average and intend to be getting a degree in some form of business or consumer relations. All applicants must also be residents of the state of Hawaii and at least sophomores. If they do qualify, the average scholarship is slightly over $4,000 a year.

Finally, Hawaii is not completely cut off from state-side scholarships. The national Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship is there, handing out awards of $1,500 a semester. Initial awards are given to graduating high school seniors who have demonstrated academic excellence through class rank, GPA, SAT/ACT scores, and extracurricular involvement. Recipients may attend any four-year college or university, with the exception of a military academy.

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