And the Winner is...
Your Favorite Scholarship Winner is Revealed!
The judges have carefully reviewed each and every application we received in the Your Favorite Scholarship contest, and the winner is Raegan R!
Raegan’s Winning Essay
Here is Raegan’s winning essay, which responded to the prompt: In 250 words or less, tell us: What is your favorite scholarship you have applied for (besides this one)? What did you like about that scholarship? Did you win?
Like every other high school senior, I’ve applied to quite a few scholarships. Of course, I’ve applied for the traditional college scholarships, whether they be through universities themselves or private organizations/people. However, unlike other seniors, I’m not going to college for a very traditional major, I’m majoring in Commercial Aviation. I want to become an airline pilot, but as it turns out, flying gets quite expensive. It’s not really thought about when you exclusively fly commercially on airlines, since the cost is split up between you and every other person on the plane, but when it's just you paying, even in a small plane, the money adds up.
I became a student member of the Experimental Aircraft Association back in 2021, where I networked with other people and volunteered for my chapter. I ended up applying for their flight scholarships to help pay for me to get my Private Pilot's License, one of which I noticed was sponsored by a woman I had met named Jane Kellogg. I submitted my application, then went through a round of interviews, which led to the waiting game.
There were two scholarships to win, and four people that made it to the final round of interviews. I knew the odds were in my favor, but I was still nervous. I anxiously awaited the email that eventually came, telling me that I was chosen for the Kellogg Youth Aviation Scholarship. This opportunity gave me the ability to fly, and for that, it’s my favorite.
Why Raegan Was Chosen?
First and foremost, Raegan’s essay answered all three portions of the prompt. Her essay explained which scholarship was her favorite, explained what she liked about that scholarship, and told us whether she won that scholarship or not. Just by answering the essay prompt, Raegan put herself in the running to win.
Raegan’s essay came in at 249 words - just one word shy of the maximum. Using most of the words allowed, Raegan could write a very detailed essay explaining her educational and career goals and the process she went through to win her favorite scholarship. As you can hear in my interview with Raegan, she had a longer essay written and had to cut it down to meet the word limit, which is very often a sign of a well-written essay.
As great as Raegan’s essay was, she would not have been chosen had she not responded to the email letting her know that she was selected as a finalist. Several of our finalists failed to respond to our requests for additional information. As Raegan says in our interview, checking your emails daily is crucial for winning scholarships, simply so you don’t miss import notifications.
Raegan shares some other fantastic advice for scholarship applicants in our interview, which you can listen to here: