Get Started Early in Preparing Your Scholarship Application
If you plan to apply for either the Ferguson Scholarship or the Tylavsky Memorial Scholarship, the following is a list of required items you can prepare in advance:
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Personal Essay: Compose a "personal essay" (double-spaced, no more than two standard pages, single-sided, 10-12 point font size) that will help scholarship selection committee members learn about your personal history, perspectives, career and personal goals, interests and education plans. This is an important attachment to your final application.
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File a FAFSA Report: Your parents can complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid report before filing their 2009 tax returns. This report will give you an estimate of your family's "EFC" (Expected Family Contribution). A copy of the full report must be submitted with your scholarship application. Make sure your report clearly shows your EFC, your parents' estimated Adjusted Gross Income, and contains the section showing each individual parent's income, if any. Any scholarship application submitted without the full FAFSA report may be disqualified!.
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Test Scores: You will be required to submit a copy of your SAT and/or ACT scores if you are a high school senior. Current college students are waived from this requirement. Photocopies are acceptable. If you have not taken the SAT or ACT tests but, instead, took a college placement exam for a community or junior college, please submit a copy of the exam scores AND a copy of the school's scoring system explanation.
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Letters of Recommendation: Two original letters of recommendation must be submitted with your scholarship application. At least one must be from a teacher or school counselor. The letters must be signed and provide contact information for the writer (telephone number and/or e-mail). You should request these letters as soon as possible since teachers are often innundated with requests during the final two quarters of the school year. Photocopies are acceptable IF the writer signs the copy as an original.
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OFFICIAL Transcript: Current college students should request an official copy of their Fall 2009 transcript as soon as classes and exams are completed. Some colleges will issue the transcript in a sealed envelope to the student. DO NOT OPEN the sealed envelope, but submit it with your application as you received it. Other colleges will only mail an official transcript. If that is the case at your school, we will accept it by mail directly. Please have your transcript mailed to: Scholarship Officer, Peninsula Community Foundation of Virginia, 11742 Jefferson Avenue Suite 350, Newport News, VA 23606. Depending on your school's policies, you may have to pay for an official copy of your transcript. High school students are also required to submit an official transcript. In most cases this will be a record of your grades for freshman, sophomore, and junior years, as well as the first half of your senor year. All transcripts MUST provide a cumulative GPA score on a 4.00 scale. If your school uses a 1-100 scale, please ask your counselor to convert it to a 4.00 scale. High school transcripts often provide a "weighted" and an "unweighted" GPA if you are taking honors or advanced placement courses. Selection committee members will be given both scores when provided. Please follow the instructions above regarding submission. If your school policy requires that your transcript be mailed, use the address in this paragraph above. If your school gives the transcript directly to you in a sealed envelope, do not open it but submit it with your application packet.
Historically, those students who have taken great care to properly prepare and submit the additional required materials have been top contenders for the awards. Please make sure to read carefully to ensure that your application will comply with the criteria. Because of the vigorous competition for these awards, applications that are incomplete or incorrectly submitted will be disqualified. If you have additional questions, please call us at 757-327-0862 or (toll-free) at 866-412-6540.
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