Cashing in on Leadership Skills

Guest post by Monica Matthews

One of the greatest skills that scholarship judges look for the applicants is leadership.  Unfortunately, many students don’t believe that they are leadership material or have any leadership experience.  This is where it pays to dig deep and examine what a student has done in school and out of it in regards to helping others and holding a leadership position. Let’s take a common church volunteer opportunity like vacation bible school.  Was the student in charge of a small group of younger students?  If so, they were leaders!  How about if they organized games and taught the kids how to play them?  This shows leadership!  The same goes for many scouting activities.  Working on merit badges gives students lots of opportunities to lead fellow scouts in various ways.  How about teaching younger scouts in knot-tying, camping skills, or cooking demonstrations?  This is leadership! The idea is to take what the student has already done and break down each experience by highlighting valued skills such as leadership and mentoring.  Scholarship judges look for students who will use their scholarship money to make a difference and continue to be contributing members of society.  Displaying leadership on scholarship applications is impressive and memorable in the eyes of the judges.   Students often make the mistake of assuming they are not “leaders” if they were not student body president or sports team captains.  Closely examining all volunteer positions and school activities will often reveal leadership skills and experience a student did not realize they had and could be worth thousands of dollars in college scholarship money.   Monica Matthews is the author of “How to Win College Scholarships”.  She helped her own son win over $100,000 in college scholarships and now shares this passion with other parents and their students.  Her scholarship tips have been featured on several websites and she has been dubbed the “Go To” expert on college scholarships.  You can find her scholarship guide and tips athttp://how2winscholarships.com.]]>