A Biography of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

A Biography of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. In 1966, Martin Luther King Jr. was in Miami when he had a meeting with film producer Abby Mann, who was contemplating a movie biography about King. Mann asked the 37-year-old minister how the movie should end. King replied, It ends with me getting killed. Throughout his civil rights career, King was painfully aware that a number of white Americans wanted to see him destroyed or even dead, but he accepted the mantle of leadership anyway, assuming its heavy burden at the young age of 26. The 12 years the activist spent fighting first for civil rights and later against poverty changed America in profound ways and turned King into the moral leader of the nation, in A. Philip Randolphs words. Martin Luther Kings Childhood King was born on Jan. 15, 1929, to an Atlanta pastor, Michael (Mike) King, and his wife, Alberta King. Mike Kings son was named after him, but when little Mike was five, the elder King changed his name and his sons name to Martin Luther, suggesting that both had a destiny as great as the founder of the Protestant Reformation. The Rev. Martin Luther King Sr. was a prominent pastor among African Americans in Atlanta, and his son grew up in a comfortable middle-class environment. King Jr. was an intelligent boy who impressed his teachers with his efforts to expand his vocabulary and sharpen his speaking skills. He was a dutiful member of his fathers church, but as he grew older, he did not show much interest in following in his fathers footsteps. On one occasion, he told a Sunday school teacher that he did not believe that Jesus Christ was ever resurrected. Kings experience in his youth with segregation was mixed. On the one hand, King Jr. witnessed his father stand up to white policemen who called him boy instead of reverend. King Sr. was a strong man who demanded the respect he was due. But, on the other hand, King himself had been subject to a racial epithet in a downtown Atlanta store. When he was 16, King, accompanied by a teacher, went to a small town in southern Georgia for an oratorical contest; on the way home, the bus driver forced King and his teacher to give up their seats to white passengers. King and his teacher had to stand for the three hours it took to return to Atlanta. King later noted that he had never been angrier in his life. Higher Education Kings intelligence and excellent schoolwork led him to skip two grades in high school, and in 1944, at the age of 15, King began his university studies at Morehouse College while living at home. His youth did not hold him back, however, and King joined the college social scene. Classmates remembered his stylish mode of dressa fancy sport coat and wide-brimmed hat. King became more interested in the church as he grew older. At Morehouse, he took a Bible class that prompted his conclusion that whatever doubts he had about the Bible, it contained many truths about human existence. King majored in sociology, and by the end of his college career, he was contemplating either a career in law or in ministry. At the start of his senior year, King settled on becoming a minister and started acting as assistant pastor to King Sr. He applied and was accepted into Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. He spent three years at Crozer where he excelled academicallymore so than he had at Morehouseand began to hone his preaching skills. His professors thought he would do well in a doctoral program, and King decided to attend Boston University to pursue a doctorate in theology. In Boston, King met his future wife, Coretta Scott, and in 1953, they married. King told friends that he liked people too much to become an academic, and in 1954, King moved to Montgomery, Ala., to become pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. That first year, he finished his dissertation while also building up his ministry. King earned his doctorate in June of 1955. Montgomery Bus Boycott Shortly after King finished his dissertation on Dec. 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was on a Montgomery bus when told to give up her seat to a white passenger. She refused and was arrested. Her arrest marked the beginning of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The evening of her arrest, King received a phone call from union leader and activist E.D. Nixon, who asked King to join the boycott and host the boycott meetings at his church. King hesitated, seeking the counsel of his friend Ralph Abernathy before agreeing. That agreement catapulted King into the leadership of the civil rights movement. On Dec. 5, the Montgomery Improvement Association, the organization leading the boycott, elected King as its president. The meetings of Montgomerys African-American citizens saw the full realization of Kings oratorical skills. The boycott lasted longer than any had predicted, as white Montgomery refused to negotiate. Montgomerys black community withstood the pressure admirably, organizing car pools and walking to work if necessary. During the year of the boycott, King developed the ideas that formed the core of his non-violent philosophy, which was that the activists should, through quiet and passive resistance, reveal to the white community their own brutality and hatred. Though Mahatma Gandhi later became an influence, he initially developed his ideas out of Christianity. King explained that [t]his business of passive resistance and nonviolence is the gospel of Jesus. I went to Gandhi through him. World Traveler The bus boycott was successful in integrating Montgomerys buses by December of 1956. The year was a trying one for King; he was arrested and 12 sticks of dynamite with a burnt-out fuse were discovered on his front porch, but it also was the year that King accepted his role in the civil rights movement. After the boycott in 1957, King helped to found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which became a key organization in the civil rights movement. King became a sought-out speaker across the South, and though he worried about peoples overweening expectations, King began the travels that would take up the rest of his life. In 1959, King traveled to India and met with Gandhis former lieutenants. India had won its independence from Great Britain in 1947 due in large part to Gandhis non-violent movement, which entailed peaceful civil resistancethat is resisting the unjust government but doing so without violence. King was impressed by the incredible success of the Indian independence movement through the employment of non-violence. When he returned, King announced his resignation from Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. He felt it was unfair to his congregation to spend so much time on civil rights activism and so little time on ministry. The natural solution was to become co-pastor with his father at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. Nonviolence Put to the Test By the time King moved to Atlanta, the civil rights movement became full-fledged. College students in Greensboro, N.C., initiated the protests that formed this phase. On Feb. 1, 1960, four African-American college students, young men from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College, went to a Woolworths lunch counter that served whites only and asked to be served. When denied service, they sat silently until the store closed. They returned for the rest of the week, kicking off a lunch-counter boycott that spread across the South. In October, King joined students at a Richs department store in downtown Atlanta. It became the occasion for another of Kings arrests. But, this time, he was on probation for driving without a Georgia license (he had retained his Alabama license when he made his move to Atlanta). When he appeared before a Dekalb County judge on the charge of trespassing, the judge sentenced King to four months hard labor. It was presidential election season, and presidential candidate John F. Kennedy called Coretta Scott to offer his support while King was in jail. Meanwhile, Robert Kennedy, though angry that the publicity of the phone call might alienate white Democrat voters from his brother, worked behind the scenes to procure Kings early release. The result was that King Sr. announced his support for the Democratic candidate. In 1961, the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), which had been formed in the wake of the Greensboro lunch-counter protests began a new initiative in Albany, Ga. Students and Albany residents began a series of demonstrations designed to integrate the citys services. Albanys police chief, Laurie Pritchett, employed a strategy of peaceful policing. He kept his police force tightly controlled, and the Albany protesters were having trouble making any headway. They called King. King arrived in December and found his non-violent philosophy tested. Pritchett told the press that he had studied Kings ideas and that non-violent protests would be countered by non-violent police work. What became apparent in Albany was the non-violent demonstrations were most effective when performed in an environment of overt hostility. As Albanys police kept peacefully jailing protesters, the civil rights movement was being denied their most effective weapon in the new age of television images of peaceful protesters being brutally beaten. King left Albany in August 1962 as Albanys civil rights community decided to shift its efforts to voter registration. Though Albany is generally considered a failure for King, it was merely road bump on the way to greater success for the non-violent civil rights movement. The Letter from Birmingham Jail In the spring of 1963, King and the SCLC took what they learned and applied it in Birmingham, Ala. The police chief there was Eugene Bull Connor, a violent reactionary lacking the political skills of Pritchett. When Birminghams African-American community started mounting protests against segregation, Connors police force responded by spraying the activists with high-pressure water hoses and unleashing police dogs. It was during the Birmingham demonstrations that King was arrested for the 13th time since Montgomery. On April 12, King went to jail for demonstrating without a permit. While in jail, he read in the Birmingham News about an open letter from white clergy, urging civil rights protesters to stand down and be patient. Kings response became known as Letter from a Birmingham Jail, a powerful essay that defended the morality of civil rights activism. King emerged from the Birmingham jail determined to win the fight there. SCLC and King made the difficult decision to allow high-school students to join the protests. Connor did not disappointthe resulting images of peaceful youths being brutally put down shocked white America. King had won a decisive victory. The March on Washington On the heels of success in Birmingham came Kings speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on Aug. 28, 1963. The march was planned to urge support for a civil rights bill, though President Kennedy had his misgivings about the march. Kennedy delicately suggested that thousands of African Americans converging on DC might hurt the chances of a bill making it through Congress, but the civil rights movement remained dedicated to the march, although they agreed to avoid any rhetoric that could be interpreted as militant. The highlight of the march was Kings speech that used the famous refrain I have a dream. King exhorted Americans, Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of Gods children. Civil Rights Laws When Kennedy was assassinated, his successor, President Lyndon B. Johnson, used the moment to push the Civil Rights Act of 1964 through Congress, which outlawed segregation. At the end of 1964, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his success in so prominently articulating and demanding human rights. With that congressional victory in hand, King and the SCLC turned their attention next to the issue of voting rights. White Southerners since the end of Reconstruction had come up with various ways to deprive African Americans of suffrage, such as outright intimidation, poll taxes and literacy tests. In March of 1965, SNCC and SCLC tried to march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., but were violently rebuffed by police. King joined them, leading a symbolic march that turned around before heading over the Pettus Bridge, the scene of the police brutality. Though King was criticized for that move, it presented a cooling-down period, and activists were able to complete the march to Montgomery on March 25. In the midst of the troubles at Selma, President Johnson gave a speech urging support for his voting rights bill. He ended the speech by echoing the civil rights anthem, We Shall Overcome. The speech brought tears to Kings eyes as he watched it on televisionit was the first time his closest friends had seen him cry. President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law on Aug. 6. King and Black Power As the federal government endorsed the causes of the civil rights movementintegration and voting rightsKing increasingly came face-to-face with the  growing black power movement. Non-violence had been enormously effective in the South, which was segregated by law. In the North, however, African Americans faced de facto segregation, or segregation kept in place by custom, poverty due to years of discrimination, and housing patterns that were difficult to change overnight. So, despite the enormous changes coming to the South, African Americans in the North were frustrated by the slow pace of change. The black power movement addressed these frustrations. Stokely Carmichael of SNCC articulated these frustrations during a 1966 speech, Now we maintain that in the past six years or so, this country has been feeding us a thalidomide drug of integration, and that some negroes have been walking down a dream street talking about sitting next to white people; and that that does not begin to solve the problem . . . that people ought to understand that; that we were never fighting for the right to integrate, we were fighting against white supremacy. The black power movement dismayed King. As he began speaking out against the Vietnam War, he found himself having to address the issues raised by Carmichael and others, who were arguing that non-violence was not enough. He told one audience in Mississippi, Im sick and tired of violence. Im tired of the war in Vietnam. Im tired of war and conflict in the world. Im tired of shooting. Im tired of selfishness. Im tired of evil. Im not going to use violence, no matter who says it. The Poor Peoples Campaign By 1967, in addition to becoming outspoken about the Vietnam War, King also began an anti-poverty campaign. He broadened his activism to include all poor Americans, seeing the achievement of economic justice as a way to overcome the sort of segregation that existed in cities like Chicago but also as a basic human right. It was the Poor Peoples Campaign, a movement to unite all impoverished Americans regardless of race or religion. King envisioned the movement as culminating in a march on Washington in the spring of 1968. But events in Memphis interfered. In February of 1968, Memphis sanitation workers went on strike, protesting the mayors refusal to recognize their union. An old friend, James Lawson, pastor of a Memphis church, called King and asked him to come. King could not refuse Lawson or their workers who needed his help and went to Memphis at the end of March, leading a demonstration that turned into a riot. King returned to Memphis on April 3, determined to help the sanitation workers in spite of his dismay at the violence that had erupted. He spoke at a mass meeting that night, encouraging his listeners that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land! He was staying at the Lorraine Motel, and on the afternoon of April 4, as King and other SCLC members were readying themselves for dinner, King stepped onto the balcony, waiting on Ralph Abernathy to put on some aftershave. As he stood waiting, King was shot. The hospital pronounced his death at 7:05 p.m. Legacy King was not perfect. He would have been the first to admit this. His wife, Coretta, desperately wanted to join the civil rights marches, but he insisted that she stay at home with their children, unable to break out of the rigid gender patterns of the era. He committed adultery, a fact that the FBI threatened to use against him and that King feared would make its way into the papers. But King was able to overcome his all-too-human weaknesses and lead  African Americans, and all Americans, to a better future. The civil rights movement never recovered from the blow of his death. Abernathy tried to continue the Poor Peoples Campaign without King, but he could not marshal the same support. King, however, has continued to inspire the world. By 1986,  a federal holiday  commemorating his birthday had been established. Schoolchildren study his I Have a Dream speech. No other American before or since has so clearly articulated and so determinedly fought for social justice. Sources Branch, Taylor. Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-1964. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988. Frady, Marshall. Martin Luther King. New York: Viking Penguin, 2002. Garrow, David J. Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.. New York: Vintage Books, 1988. Kotz, Nick. Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Laws that Changed America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005.

37 Top Scholarships for High School Sophomores and Freshmen

37 Top Scholarships for High School Sophomores and Freshmen SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips It's never too early to start saving up money for your college education. Even if you are only in your first or second year of high school, there are plenty of opportunities to start bringing in money that will pay for your tuition, books, fees, and living expenses a couple of years down the line. You might be surprised to learn that there are actuallyhundreds of scholarships available to underclassmen.If you're just starting your hunt, use this list of the 37 best scholarships for high school freshmen and sophomores to get started. This list includes a variety of scholarshipsforfreshmen and sophomores. I've broken them down into the following categories: Essay Scholarships Special Interest Scholarships Creative Scholarships Hobby- and Activity-Based Scholarships Location-based Scholarships Easy Scholarships These scholarships arenot limited to one college or university,so students who win these awards will be able to use them for a variety of schools. How to Use This List of Scholarships for Sophomores and Freshmen Before we go over the scholarships you can apply for, let's quickly review the best ways you can use this list of scholarships for sophomores and freshmen. Rule 1: Play to Your Strengths Start out by looking at the different categories below. Are you creative? Then consider applyingto some of the scholarships that require artwork or a movie for their applications. If you're a strong writer, on the other hand, consider applying to scholarships that require essays. Rule 2: Apply to Many Scholarships The beauty of starting your scholarship hunt early is that you have a lot oftime! So use it wisely to apply to as many scholarships as possible. We recommend applying to anywhere between five and 30 scholarships.Most scholarships on this list and beyond are competitive, meaning many students will be applying for them. You'll increase your chances of winning money if you don't put all of your eggs in one basket! Rule 3: Pay Attention to Details Make sure you read all the rules carefully before you apply for a scholarship, and be certain that your essays and other application materials address what is being asked. It's a waste of time to apply to scholarships if you're going to end up disqualified simply because you failed to follow the instructions. Similarly, make sure tostay on top of important deadlines. You don't want to miss out on a great scholarship because you accidentally missed adue date! Rule 4: Do Your Own Research Keep in mind that this list is just a starting point. There are many more scholarships available to younger students, and there very well might be some that are more suited to your talents and interests. Don't be afraid to dosome Google searches to see whether there are any scholarships out there that correspond to one of your unique traits. Remember, the more obscure a scholarship is,the better your chance of winning it will be! Essay Scholarships To start, let's take a look at scholarships that require students to write and submit essays as part of their applications. Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum Student Essay Contest The Oklahoma City National Museum hosts an essay contest for students in grades 5-12. Topics revolve around ideas related to the Oklahoma bombings in 1995. Students ingrades 9 and 10 can submit 500-word essays. Prizes: 1st place: $200 2nd place: $150 3rd place: $100 Ayn Rand Essay Contest High school freshmen and sophomores can write an essay on one of several topics related to the bookAnthem by Ayn Rand. The deadline to apply is April 25, 2019. Prizes: 1st place: $2,000 (one winner) 2nd place: $250 (three winners) 3rd place: $100 (five winners) Finalists: $25 (50 winners) NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund Essay Contest To enter this contest, high school students must write a 1,000-word essay answering the question, "What does the second amendment meant to you?" The deadline is December 31, 2018. Prizes: 1st place: $1,000 2nd place: $600 3rd place: $200 4th place: $100 Fleet Reserve Association Essay Contest Students in grades 7-12 can enter this essay contest by submitting an essay of no more than 350 words on "What Freedom of Speech Means to Me."The deadline is December 1, 2018. Prizes: Grand national prize: $5,000 1stplace: $2,500 2ndplace: $1,500 3rdplace: $1,000 Unigo $10K Scholarship Students 13 or older can apply for a chance to win one grand prize of $10,000. Your application must include a 250-word response to the prompt: "Imagine a historical figure is brought back to life. Who is it? What's their favorite mobile app?"The deadline is December 31, 2018. Gen and Kelly Tanabe Scholarship High school studentscan submit a 250-word essay on a topic of their choice for the chance to be entered into a competition to win a $1,000 prize. There are two contests per year. The fall contest deadline is December 31, 2018, and the spring contest deadline is July31, 2019. Young Patriots Essay Contest All US high school students can apply to win. They must submit an essay of no more than 1,500 words on a topic related to current events and/or public policy. Prizes: 1stplace: $5,000 2ndplace: $2,500 3rdplace: $1,500 Profile in Courage Essay Contest Students in grades 9-12 can submit a 700- to 1,000-word essay about "an act of political courage by a US elected official who served during or after 1917, the year John F. Kennedy was born." Essays must have at least five sources.The deadline for this year's contest is January 18, 2019. Prizes: 1stplace: $10,000 2ndplace: $3,000 Finalists: $1,000 (five winners) Semifinalists: $100 (eight winners) We the Students Essay Contest US students enrolled in grades 8-12 can apply to this scholarship to win one of 15awards ranging from $500 to $5,000.You must complete the online application and submit an essay of no more than 800 words on the topic cited on the website. The deadline is February 14, 2019. Prizes: 1stplace: $5,000 Runners-up: $1,250 (six winners) Honorable Mention: $500 (eight winners) Optimist International Essay Contest US students under the age of 19 can submit an essay on the topic "When All the World’s Problems are Solved, is Optimism Still Necessary?" Club winners advance to the District contest to compete for a $2,500 scholarship. The deadline for submission is February 28, 2019. Visionary Scholarship Program Any currently enrolled US high school student can apply to receive a prize from $1,000 to $5,000. Applicants must submit a completed application, a copy of their most recent (unofficial) high school transcript, and a 500-word essay on "Why College is Important to Me." The deadline for this year's contest is May 1, 2019. Special Interest Scholarships These next scholarships require a special action on the part of the applicant, from volunteering to playing an online game. Humanity Rising Service Challenge High school students who volunteer for a non-profit that meets Humanity Rising’s criteria may apply for this scholarship by sharing their service story. You must make an account in order to access the scholarship details and apply for the challenge.Awards range from $500 to more than $2,000, and all deadlines are rolling. HR Block Budget Challenge US students in grades 9-12can apply to win one of 10 $20,000 scholarships. Students must play an online game that simulates adult life in terms of financial literacy. While students can't register themselves, teachers may register classes as well as individual students. Creative Scholarships Are you the creative type? This next set of scholarships for freshmen and sophomores is all about artistic ability and creativity. For these contests, you'll need to submit a piece of art, whether that's a story, painting, video, photograph, etc. Create Real Impact Contest Any student between the ages of 14 and 22 can submit either a piece of writing (100-600 words), a video, a work of art,or a piece of music they've composed on the topic of how to address reckless driving. Voting on entries begins October 2, 2018. Prizes: Grand prize: $1,500 (four winners, one per category) Top Schools prize: $1,000 (three winners) Top Online Vote Getter prize: $500 (four winners, one per category) Spanish Category Award: $1,500 (one winner) Sports Team Award: $1,500 (one winner) TeenDrive365 Video Challenge All US high school students at least 13 years of age canenter this contest by creating a unique 30- to 60-second video that highlights safer teen driving. The video must end withthe TeenDrive365 Video Challenge Call to Action slide, which you can download from the TeenDrive365 website. The submission deadline is in February 2019. Prizes: 1stplace: $15,000 2ndplace: $10,000 3rdplace: $7,500 People's Choice: $5,000 4th-10th place: $2,500 Regional prizes: $1,000 (four winners) Doodle 4 Google Students from kindergarten to 12thgrade can apply for this scholarship. Applicants must submit a Google Doodle related to this year's theme. All submissions are divided and judged by age group. The deadline is in March 2019. Prizes: National Winner: $30,000 (plus a $50,000 technology award for the winner's school) National Finalists: $5,000 (four winners, one per age group) Scholastic Art Writing Award Students ingrades 7-12with a keen interest in writing or art may apply to win a Best-in-Grade Award. Students in 12th grade only can also apply to win a Portfolio Award. Deadlines vary by region. Prizes: Portfolio Award–Gold Medal: $10,000 (16 winners) Portfolio Award–Silver Medal: $1,000 (30 winners) Best-in-Grade Award: $500 (24 winners, four per grade level) AutoPetsâ„ ¢ Out-of-the-Box Thinking Scholarship All current high school students can apply for this scholarship. Applications must include a 400-word essay about an innovative pet product idea. The deadline is in July 2019. Prizes: Grand prize: $1,250 First runner-up: $500 Second runner-up: $250 Create-A-Greeting-Card Scholarship Contest US students who are at least 14 years old may applyfor this scholarship of $10,000. You must design a greeting card using a photo, piece of artwork, or computer graphic for the front image. Submissionsmust be submitted as JPEGs (.jpg). The deadline is March 1, 2019. Young American Creative Patriotic Art Contest US high school students interested in art can apply to win one of eight national awards. Applicants must submit an original piece of art with a patriotic theme.The first-place winner receives $15,000 and a plaque as well as airfare to and two nights' lodging at the VFW Auxiliary National Convention. The winner's art will also be featured on the cover of the VFW Auxiliary magazine and the Auxiliary website. The deadline to apply is March 31, 2019. Prizes: 1st place: $15,000 2nd place: $7,500 3rd place: $3,500 4th place: $1,500 5th-8th place: $500 Hobby- and Activity-Based Scholarships If you've got a long-term hobby or activity you like to do, these next scholarships are right up your alley. WIA Student Pilot Scholarship Any high school student who is an active member of Women in Aviation International (WAI) may apply for this $3,000 scholarship. You must submit a completed WAI form, two recommendation letters, a 500-word essay, a resume, copies of all aviation licenses and medical records, and the last three pages of your pilot logbook, if applicable. The deadline for submission is November 12, 2018. Marine Band Concerto Competition for High School Musicians US high school students who play a woodwind, brass, or percussion instrument canapply for this scholarshipby submitting a completed application form, a recommendation letter, and an audio recording of their performing a piece of music chosen from a list of works. All submissions are due by November 15, 2018. Prizes: 1st place: $2,500 Runner-up: $500 SBO Magazine Music Student Scholarship Students ingrades 4-12can apply for this essay contest to winone of 10 $1,000 prizes.Essays must be250 words or less and answer the contest's theme: "What role has your music program played in bringing you closer to your school mates, friends and the community at large?" The deadline is December 31, 2018. Technology Addiction Awareness Scholarship US high school students can apply to this for a chance to win a $1,000 prize. Applications must be submitted along with a 140-character message that completesthe following statement: "Instead of spending time with technology, I'd rather ... " The top 10 applicants will be contacted and invited to write a 500- to 1,000-word essay on technology addiction. The winner will be selected from this 10. Applications for this year's contest are due January 30, 2019. Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award Any full-time student aged 8-18 can apply to win one of 20 $10,000 scholarships. Applicantsmust show outstanding classical music achievement and demonstrate financial need. You must submit at least two audio samples of your music along with tax forms, transcripts, and other supporting documents. There are three application cycles each year, and this year's deadlines are October 1, 2018; January 7, 2019; and March 4, 2019. Davidson Fellows Award US students aged 18 or younger who have completed a "significant piece of work" in one of the categories listed here can apply to win a large scholarship. The deadline is February 13, 2019. Prizes: 1st place: $50,000 2nd place: $25,000 3rd place: $10,000 BMI Student Composer Awards Program Both US and international students (in the Western Hemisphere) younger than 28 can apply to win a scholarshipof up to $5,000. Each applicant must submit an audio recording of an original music composition along with legible manuscripts. Eagle Scout of the Year Award US students aged 15 or older who are active members of a Boy Scout Troop, Varsity Scout Team, or Venturing Crew can be nominated to win a $10,000 scholarship. Applicants must be active in their religious institutions and have received the corresponding Boy Scout religious emblemand Eagle Scout Award; they must have also shown practical citizenship in their churches, schools, Scouting groups, and communities. Nomination and application forms must be received by the applicant's corresponding department (state) headquarters by March 1, 2019. Prizes: 1st place: $10,000 Runners-up: $2,500 (three winners) National High School Oratorical Contest US high school students under the age of 20 can apply to receive a maximum scholarshipof $18,000. Students must first compete in their local oratorical contests and deliver a prepared speech on a particular topic. Winners will then advance to the national competition. Prizes: 1st place: $18,000 2nd place: $16,000 3rd place: $14,000 State winners who participate in the national contest's first round will receive $1,500, and those who advance past the first round will receive an additional $1,500. Location-Based Scholarships Some scholarships are only for students who live in particular areas. Check out the following list of scholarships to see whether there are any contests in your region. Meriwest Annual High School Essay Competition Applicantsmust beingrades 9-12, havea GPA of at least 2.0,and live in one of these California counties: Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda, Contra Costa, orSan Francisco. Students who live in Arizona'sPima County are also eligible. If you live outside these counties, you can still enter the contest if you're a member of the Meriwest Credit Union. The scholarship competition awards 12 prizes annually, or three per grade level. The deadline to apply is in January 2019. Prizes: 10th grade 1st place: $300 2nd place: $250 3rd place: $150 9th grade 1st place: $250 2nd place: $150 3rd place: $100 Take Stock in Children Scholarship Any students in grades 6-9 who attend a public school in Hillsborough County, Florida, have a 2.5 GPA or higher, and qualify for free or reduced lunches may apply. The application period will open in November 2018. Diverse Minds Writing Challenge Applicants must be US students in grades 9-12and attend a school in the metro area of New York City (all five boroughs); Washington, DC; Atlantic City, New Jersey; or the Delmarva Peninsula (Delaware and Maryland).To enter, applicantsmust create a children’s book that addresses themes of tolerance and diversity, and promotes a greater understanding of different cultures, lifestyles, and beliefs. The bookcan be either fiction or non-fiction and should target children between kindergarten and 5thgrade.It must also include full-color illustrations. The deadline varies by region. Prizes: Grand prize: $5,000 (one winner per contest city/region) Oklahoma's Promise - Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program Oklahoma students currently enrolled in grades 8-10 and whose families make $55,000 or less annually can apply for thechance to receive full tuition for an Oklahoma public two-year college or four-year university, or partial tuition for an accredited Oklahoma private college. The application must include the first two pages of the applicant's most recent federal tax return. The deadline to apply is July 1, 2019. Easy Scholarships This final section of scholarships for sophomores and freshmen includes those that are extremely easy to apply for- all you have to do is register for a website or submit an online application and you're good to go! $2,000 "No Essay" College Scholarship Any student can apply by simply registering on the website. Awinner is chosen each month to receive $2,000. The deadline to apply is the last day of each month. $1,000 Cappex Easy College Money Scholarship Any high school student who registers and completesa profile at Cappex.com willbe entered into a monthly drawingto receive $1,000. The deadline to apply is the end of each month. Top Ten List Scholarship Any US student 13 or older can apply for thechance to win a $1,500 scholarship. Applicants must respond to the following statementin no more than 250 words: "Create a Top Ten List of the top ten reasons you should get this scholarship."The deadline is December 31, 2018. Wells Fargo CollegeSTEPS Program Sweepstakes Students aged 14 or older canapply for this scholarship by simply registering for the CollegeSTEPS program. Awards are $5,000 each. What's Next? Too old for these scholarships?Check out these scholarships that you can apply to in your senior year of high school! Need more money than what these scholarships offer?Then check out our list of amazing full-ride scholarships and 80+ colleges that offer full-ride scholarships. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now: