Lavelle Leaders Awards
Purpose
The Lavelle Fund for the Blind is pleased to announce the new Lavelle Leaders Award for higher education students. These one-time only scholarships of $5,000 will be awarded yearly to two outstanding scholars attending one of our partner colleges and universities. This competitive, merit-based award will be open to current college Juniors, Seniors, or graduate students who demonstrate the highest levels of academic achievement and whose leadership experience and school, career, or community engagement make a significant impact. Successful Lavelle Leaders Award applicants will demonstrate a steadfast pursuit of their goals.
Eligibility
Lavelle Leaders Awards are merit awards offered, regardless of financial need, to students who:
· are legally blind
· are legal U.S. residents
· are college Juniors, Seniors, or graduate students in one of our partnering colleges or universities
(Current Lavelle – Brother Kearney Scholars are also eligible to apply. Awards are not mutually exclusive.)
· have not previously been awarded a Lavelle Leaders Award
· exhibit leadership potential, strong academic abilities, and involvement in school and/or community organizations, as evidenced by their application materials including college transcript(s), 2 letters of recommendation, and essay.
Essay
Applications must include an essay in Word format, 14 font, no longer than 3 pages in response to the following prompt:
“Share Your Strength”
Drawing from your personal experience, describe how, and in what capacity, you develop leadership skills, and how such efforts have made, and continue to make a significant impact. Be sure to include some examples of how you overcome obstacles. Feel free to mention any individual (mentor, teacher, relative) who might have had an influence on your development as a leader.
Colleges and Universities
Current Juniors, Seniors, and graduate students attending the following colleges and universities are eligible to apply.
· Canisius College
· Dominican University
· Fairfield University
· Fordham University
· Le Moyne College
· Manhattanville College
· Marist College
· Marymount Manhattan College
· Molloy University
· Seton Hall University
· St. John’s University
· St. Thomas Aquinas College
To Apply
The Lavelle Fund will accept Lavelle Leaders Award applications from current students who meet the eligibility criteria above, between February 1st through June 30th. Applications will be scored according to a standardized rubric. Lavelle Leaders Awards will go to the two highest scorers. Recipients will be notified in September.
Lavelle Leaders Application Form
- May 1st – Application Open
- June 30th – Submission Deadline
- September – Award Winners announced
Scholarship Payment
The Fund will make the one-time award of $5,000 directly to award recipients.
Disclaimers
- The Lavelle Fund reserves the right to change awards, amounts and eligibility criteria without prior notice. The Fund further reserves the right to not issue any Leader Awards in any given year if submissions do not meet standards.
- Information collected during the application process is shared only with the award selection committee for review and awarding purposes, and the Fund’s Controller to distribute the financial award to award winners.
- To track scholarship tuition reimbursement payments and to ensure that each awardee only receives one scholarship, the Lavelle Fund will permanently retain the names and details of its annual scholarship winners. Additional electronic applicant records will be purged after the scholarship award selection process has concluded.
- Scholarship award recipients authorize that their name and image may be shared publicly in Lavelle Fund communications, and agree to participate in marketing activities as appropriate.
- The Lavelle Fund is not required to report scholarship award funds to U.S. residents as income, either to the IRS or the student recipient, or to withhold taxes from scholarship payments. Federal tax laws consider it the student’s sole responsibility to know when income is taxable or not, and to report income accordingly on his or her personal tax returns.
Additional Information
Should you have questions about the Lavelle Leaders Award, please contact:
Kate Morris
Scholarship Program Coordinator
[email protected] (Monday-Friday)
(212) 668-9801, ext. 101
(generally available by phone Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays)