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Maria
Shriver helps create scholarship for
females
By
Katie Doxtad
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
In an effort to provide aid to deserving students Maria Shriver and the Governor
and First Lady’s Conference on Women and Families created the Minerva
Scholars program. With financial aid of Scholarship America, she has put together
a program that could potentially provide up to a $25,000 scholarship for students
who show a history of community service.
The deadline for the scholarship, which will provide tutoring for four women,
has been extended to Friday.
Shriver made this scholarship based on the Minerva Awards, a program she launched
the previous year at the California Governor and First Lady’s Conference
on Women and Families.
These two programs are both based on the Greek goddess Minerva, the goddess
of war when she has her helmet on, but the goddess of peace without her helmet.
Maria chose this to symbolize the different roles women play in society.
Prerequisites for this scholarship are that the applicant be a second-year
female student striving for a degree in nursing, business, math and/or science,
or special education at an accredited university. The applicants need to write
a one-page essay explaining the importance of community service in their lives
along with a set of official transcripts to Scholarship America by June 1.
“Scholarships are always wonderful. Community service helps strengthen
our community and turn students into better citizens,” said Wendy Griffin,
a women’s studies professor at CSULB. Though she feels this scholarship
is beneficial, she also feels this scholarship is disconnected with what’s
going on at universities, being that the scholarship comes during finals and
graduation.
Also, she said, because the scholarship is only available to certain majors,
this ignores the fact that those in other majors also provide important community
service.
The Minerva Scholars Program was shaped at the Conference on Women and Families
hosted by Gov. Arnold Schwarze-negger and Shriver. Ashley Kirkendall, the Public
Relations Representative of the scholarship program stated, the Governor and
First Lady’s Conference on Women and Families is a conference meant to
empower women.
It is meant to help women pay for their final years of college and enable them
to positively impact their communities and California in the future.
This scholarship works as a reward for women already active in their community
and gives them a reason to continue performing community service.
The scholarship is awarded to a second-year student as a showing that the student
is dedicated to their education. On July 15, 24 finalists will be chosen by
Scholarship America. A committee chosen by Shriver will then select eight finalists
for her to review.
Shriver will then choose the four winners who will be announced in August.
The four winners will receive their award Oct. 27 at the Governor and First
Lady’s Conference for Women and Families.
Applicants feel the scholarship is a good and fair opportunity to gain money
for their education. When asked what she thought about Minerva, applicant Imilda
Zuniga said, “[The scholarship] gives students that really need the help
a chance to earn money based on hard work that they already do anyway.” |
