scholarship awards
Gap Scholarships
“A Gap Scholarship” is the amount required to fund the “gap” that may exist between the student’s total cost of attendance and that student’s other financial aid and scholarships obtained to attend that student’s post-secondary study program.
The Gap Scholarships to Camelback High School graduating seniors will be provided on a competitive basis in a three step process:
- Each applicant will fill out an online application at the Arizona Community Foundation. Their application information will be matched with the criteria for selection for gap scholarships from the Camelback High School Scholarship Fund.
- Then the information about the applicants who meet the criteria established by the Camelback High School Scholarship Fund will be provided by the Arizona Community Foundation to the Camelback High School Scholarship Fund’s Advisory Group members who will each use an on-line process to score each applicant.
- Those applicants with the highest on line scores from the Advisory Group members will be interviewed by the Advisory Group which will determine which applicants will receive the available funds from the fund.
Other scholarships from Arizona Community Foundation
By filling out the application for the Camelback gap scholarships, the applicants will also enter a pool of applicants for other scholarships available from the over 100 donor funds at the Arizona Community Foundation. These funds have a combined endowment of over $100 million and provide many scholarships for Arizona high school graduates. The Arizona Community Foundation encourages all graduates of all Arizona high schools to apply for scholarships via this program, no matter what their post secondary education program involves. There is a wide variety of selection criteria among the 100+ donor funds and funds are available for a wide variety of programs and applicants.
Gap Scholarships for CBHS Graduates
The purpose of these scholarships is to fill in the “gap” (i.e. shortfall) between the total cost of attendance at the college the recipient has selected and the scholarships and other funds available to that student. The Gap Scholarships to Camelback High School graduating seniors are provided on a competitive basis in a three step process:
- Each applicant fills out an online application at the Arizona Community Foundation. Their application information is matched with the criteria for selection for gap scholarships from the Camelback High School Scholarship Fund.
- Then the information about the applicants who meet the criteria established by the Camelback High School Scholarship Fund is provided on-line by the Arizona Community Foundation to the Camelback High School Scholarship Fund’s Advisory Group members who use an on-line process to score each applicant.
- Those applicants with the highest on line scores from the Advisory Group members are interviewed by the Advisory Group which determines which applicants will receive the available funds from the fund that year.
2018 Camelback HS Gap Scholarship Program News
Thank you to all who participated in 2018 Camelback HS Gap Scholarship program’s funding, on-line vetting and/or interviews.
We held our interviews May 22, 2018. Of the 19 invitees who were ranked highest by our on-line vetting team, 17 applicants showed up. What an inspiring group of capable, optimistic, smart people Camelback is unleashing on the world! Each one was more impressive and interesting than the one before. Their career goals range from nursing to astrophysics.
These kids have been given permission to succeed! Good job Camelback High School!
All of those who were interviewed will receive either the amount of scholarship award they asked for or the amount our interviewers determined is their need. The total amount awarded was $50,000 which was provided by 14 donors (most of whom are repeat donors).
Thank you so much, donors. You are changing lives.
Many thanks to the excellent and indefatigable Arizona Community Foundation team that administered the entire program, supervised the interviews and took the final notes. Thank you, Grace Smith and Becca Allpow. You made this whole process easy for the rest of us.
ASU Bound Applicants
This year we are adding a college mentoring program for those Gap Scholarship recipients who are to attend ASU — to ensure their college success. This one-year trial program will be provided by Be A Leader Foundation as per its normal program for college students. More details to be provided as this program develops.
One of the “asks” of the scholarship recipients headed for ASU is that they join the Camelback Alumni Association and provide enthusiastic participation in that association. Our goal is to have a resurgent alumni association assume many of the current roles of the Camelback High School Community Network over time. Jim Lee, Esq. (CB1986), Lincoln Combs, Esq.(CB 1990) and Vanessa Castaneda (CB2015) have agreed to launch this effort and to recruit others to join them.
Six Years of Gap Scholarships at Camelback HS
In 2013, 10 graduating seniors received gap scholarships from a group of donors, and in 2014 this group of donors established the Camelback High School Scholarship Fund at the Arizona Community Foundation as a conduit for donations for the 2014 and future years’ Gap Scholarships. During the school years of 2014-2017, donors contributed over $50,000 annually to this fund which supported 15 gap scholarships each year.
2018 is the sixth year of our Camelback HS Gap Scholarship program. Counting this year’s cohort of 17 recipients, we will have funded awards for 95 applicants in a total award amount of just over $276,000. The average award amount over the life of our program has been $2,900 per applicant.
We will be receiving comments and suggestions on how to improve this program from several of those who participated this year. We look forward to those ideas.
Congratulations to the 2018 Camelback High School DECA team. They are advancing to the national DECA competition in Atlanta to present their paper, The GAP Scholarship (.pdf)
Arizona Community Foundation Scholarships
A local major charitable organization, Arizona Community Foundation, manages over $90 million in donor funds which are targeted for scholarships for Arizona students headed to colleges and other post secondary educational programs. The Camelback High School Scholarship Fund is one of the scholarship funds managed by the Arizona Community Foundation.
How to apply
After a recent update to this program, all a student must do to apply for a scholarship is complete the online application.
By filling out the application for the Camelback gap scholarship, the applicants will also enter a pool of applicants for other scholarships available from the over 100 donor funds at the Arizona Community Foundation. These funds have a combined endowment of over $100 million and provide many scholarships for Arizona high school graduates. The Arizona Community Foundation encourages all graduates of all Arizona high schools to apply for scholarships via this program, no matter what their post secondary education program involves. There is a wide variety of selection criteria among the 100+ donor funds and funds are available for a wide variety of programs and applicants.
Join the Conversation
This website is a case study of a school transformation experience. The conclusion so far is that schools can benefit greatly from the time, talent and treasure of those in the local community.
Can the student outcome improvements generated at Camelback High School can be sustained and replicated? Or were the improvements only due to a unique synergy among this particular group of highly-motivated students, teachers, community leaders and an uninhibited principal?
Social Venture Partners Arizona
CULTIVATING EFFECTIVE PHILANTHROPISTS, STRENGTHENING NONPROFITS, AND INVESTING IN COLLABORATIVE SOLUTIONS
For inquiries about the Success is Mandatory program case study, Camelback High School or the Phoenix District, please email Kellie Burris: kburris@PhoenixUnion.org