This Spring, the Esperanza Education Fund will be awarding scholarships from $5,000 up to $20,000 to immigrant students, regardless of ethnicity, national origin, or immigration status, in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. In order to be eligible for the scholarship, students must have been born or have two parents born outside the United States.

Students must be seniors at any high school in D.C, Maryland, or Virginia who are planning to enroll full-time at an authorized public college or university in 2016-17. To apply for the scholarships, students must complete an online application, have two letters of recommendation, and will be asked to write essays. After the applications have been submitted, a committee will be drawn from the local community to review the applications and select a group of finalists for interviews.

The committee will be looking for students who show qualities traditionally valued and demonstrated by the immigrant community. These qualities consist of hard work, resourcefulness, perseverance in the face of adversity, academic achievement, leadership, and commitment to one’s community.

All applications are due by April 1, 2016. Those who have been selected as finalists will be notified in early May. Then the interviews will be conducted in the middle of May. At the end of the month, the winners of the scholarship will be notified.

Once the student has received the scholarship, they must remain in good standing, maintain a gpa of 2.5 or higher, and submit yearly progress reports to the Esperanza Education Fund.