Abbotsford Community Foundation Awards A guideline for how to apply for these scholarships and bursaries.

www.abbotsfordcf.org Go to this website and click on the “Student Awards” under the top tab and then scroll down to “Apply for an Award”

I. DECIDE THE AWARDS YOU WANT TO APPLY FOR Go to AWARDS SUMMARY CHECKLIST Print the YALE checklist. Open the 2018 Directory and read the descriptions for the awards on the YALE checklist You may apply for up to 20 awards. Look through this first before you fill out your application so you know what kind of criteria you should mention in your application. (volunteer work, extra-curricular activities, trades, disabilities etc.)

2. COMPLETE THE APPLICATION FORM Click on the Student Awards Application Form and fill out the general information on the first page, which includes your address, contact info., post secondary institution and program you’re applying to, and your parent/guardian contact information For the remaining five sections, make sure you do a rough draft and limit your words to 1000 characters for each section (approx. 200 words). (*click on Save after each section) and when you are ready to print, make sure it’s at 100%. After you print, sign it and get a parent/guardian signature. You will hand in this application along with your checklist and reference letter.

3. COMPLETING EACH SECTION - TIPS A) COMMUNITY/VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES This is anything NOT done for course credit. Do not leave this section (or any section) blank! Write sentences (up to 200 words) to describe any volunteer work you’ve done in your school or in the community. Be sure to include the hours spent on each activity.

B) EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES Write sentences (up to 200 words) to describe all of the things you do for extra-curricular activities, whether it’s playing on a sports team, doing an activity with your church, being a member of the Key Club, the GSA, the Leadership Team, etc. If you do not belong to an organized team or club, mention what you do in your spare time (your hobbies).

C) CAREER PLANS Write in sentences (up to 200 words) to describe what you plan on doing as a career. Start out with the courses you plan to enroll in post secondary to prepare you for this career and then indicate the plan for your future. This may change along the way and that’s okay….the committee just wants to see that you’ve put some thought into a career path.

D) ABOUT ME You may find if difficult to write about yourself but do not leave this section blank! Tell the Committee about anything you didn’t get a chance to mention in the previous 4 sections! For example, you may want to mention something unique about yourself, your family situation, your goals and passions, any struggles you’ve had to overcome, etc. *How do you stand out amongst a crowd?

E) FINANCIAL INFORMATION You will need to research the cost of tuition and fees for the school you will likely attend (for example, it is expected that you will spend approximately $4700 on tuition alone at UFV for one year- UBC and SFU will be higher so you will need to go on their websites) If you plan on living away from home, estimate your expenses for room and board and food.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION CONT’D Include the costs of textbooks and any supplies/equipment that you will need for your post secondary education, such as a lap top. Books can cost $100 per class so it adds up. Take a look at the Special Criteria section to see if any applies to you. Make sure you check any box that applies.

F. SPECIAL APPLICATIONS Some applications, such as the Abbotsford Police City Basketball Tournament, have a special application that you will need to fill out online.

G. REFERENCE LETTERS You will need to hand in a reference letter with your application form. Get on this immediately. This reference letter does not have to be in a sealed envelope If you would like to use it for another application at a later date, you should make a copy of it Your reference letter needs to be one page only and it can’t be written by a family member If possible, ask your ‘referee’ to print it on letterhead (eg. school or business logo) Be sure to give the person who is writing your letter plenty of notice and let them know what information they should include in the letter (for example, how they know you, what kind of person, worker, and/or student you are, etc.) Thank the person writing your letter

H. DUE DATE Your Awards Summary Checklist, your printed Application Form, and your reference letter are due to your counsellor no later than 2:30 p.m. on February 27th If you would like to hand it in earlier, you can do that. *do not procrastinate!!! If you have any questions and/or would like your rough draft checked over, please come to the Counselling Centre. Thank you and good luck!!!!!!!