Six Tips For Sculpting A Standout Scholarship Entry

As you create an entry for a scholarship application, you deserve to have all the resources possible to help you out! If you’re daunted by a scholarship application assignment, or wondering where to begin or focus your work, we have compiled a list of tips and tricks for creating the best application possible. 

Many of the tips below are specific to written responses, yet EdOdyssey also encourages other forms of scholarship submissions and these tips regarding structural organization and the process of creating your work can be transferable to other submission forms! 

EdOdyssey’s Virtual Program Scholarships are merit-based and accepting on a rolling basis so we encourage all students to apply! Why not explore your thirst for global learning? Show us your passion for world perspectives and share your unique story!

For reference, our submission options for virtual program scholarships include a poetry  portfolio, written responses, videos, and photography. 

• Reflect

Take time to reflect and brainstorm before you create or write your final submission. Think about your past experiences, people who have impacted you, things that bring you joy, or challenges you have faced and overcome. Consider how these experiences, passions or people influence how you connect with the world outside of your community, or the way you see the world. Do they make you want to meet new people, see new places, or experience new things?

• Plan

Once you have some ideas in mind, planning is key. Brainstorming techniques can help you plan out what you want to write or create. Some people find a helpful brainstorming technique to be free writing to get your ideas flowing. Others find that putting a pen or pencil to a piece of paper is a nice first step before typing anything up. Be sure to have the prompts in mind during this stage. 

• Select the type of work that best suits you

As mentioned above, EdOdyssey wants to see you highlight your strengths with this scholarship application. Select the submission type (video, writing, photography, etc.) that will be best for YOU! An inspired and passionate submission will be your best submission. 

• Create from your heart

Writing about or creating something you care a lot about or are passionate about will be a much stronger and powerful final product than trying to write something that you think we want to hear. What we want to hear is YOUR authentic voice! Be YOU and share your uniqueness with us! 

• Organize

Any submission should have a strong structure, beginning with an introduction, followed by your main points, and ending with a conclusion. The piece should be organized into paragraphs of 4-5 sentences based on your different points.

Providing real life examples and experiences to backup any claims you make is essential. Additionally, EdOdyssey’s scholarship applications are evaluated with the company values of Authenticity, Positivity, Harmony, Passion, Professionalism, and Adaptability, and our motto that “Travel Changes People, People Change the World”, in mind. Be sure to connect your responses to these! 

• Proofread before submitting

Before submitting anything, be sure to give your work a thorough review or read-through. Having a parent, friend, or fresh set of eyes look over your work often helps catch any mistakes you may not have noticed and add any final touch ups. 

We look forward to reading and viewing your submissions! To learn more about the EdOdyssey Virtual programs scholarship application Entry form, click here!

Want to learn more about EdOdyssey’s Virtual Study Abroad?

3 Ways to Reframe Challenges as Growth Opportunities

Confusion comes from situations that we don’t quite understand in the moment because the obstacles overwhelm us at first. Students, most of you have attended virtual classes for the first time. Teachers, you’ve had to adapt your lesson plans at a moment’s notice. Parents, you’ve had to support your children while maintaining your workload.

Businesses and offices have gone remote. The classrooms, and generally the world around us, has gone digital. With that said, all of us have experienced our respective challenges along the way. With little planning and preparation, all of us have resulted in a lot of unexpected changes and growing pains. 

Weeks and months later, we realize that these challenges were meant to teach us a lesson. At the moment, we might be in that moment of truth now. 

How have we overcome the initial obstacles? How have we grown in the midst of rapid changes? 

Today we focus on three ways to best work toward resolving frustrations that come from challenges and to move them toward solutions! 

1. Looking Beyond Immediate Challenges

What is this obstacle trying to teach me? 

The moment that we feel that we’re face a seemingly insurmountable challenge, we can automatically feel overwhelmed. The weight of a decision, or project, can feel like a huge weight if we don’t seek to understand our emotions first. 

We need to find a way to understand our emotions and channel it into a solution. 

With all the outside influences that affect our lives (the media, news, etc), and our responsibilities, we have to try our best to learn in the moment. We will have to make uncomfortable changes or adjustments, and we have to look at these decisions with a long-term view.

Will you remember this issue in years from now? 

Ask yourself what bothered you if it’s still bothering you or if you found a solution. 

We have to try our best to understand what our emotions are trying to tell us and focus on the bigger picture. All of us are learning and embracing the process, and the lessons learned from the challenge can create bigger impact if we focus on the desired outcome. 

If you’ve had a problem asking for help, you might have learned to confidently communicate that question. If you’re still struggling with your obstacles, and/or how to communicate, you’re still learning and that’s okay! Some challenges stem from widespread issues within society and culture, and they can’t be changed overnight, but on an individual level we can do our best change our relationship with them with the support of others.

One of the reasons why our team loves supporting teachers and students is because we see students overcome their culture shock, their fears, their biases, and whatever might be holding them back in the moment while abroad. At the end of each day, and throughout the day, our team leads reflections with the students to assess how students are overcoming challenges.

All of us are trying our best to understand our emotions, and we can’t judge ourselves while we’re in the process. 

2. Focusing on Lessons Learned

What have I learned about myself from this challenge? 

Sometimes we try to move so quickly past our challenges that we don’t appreciate what we learned from it. The valuable information and perspective that we gained from it. 

In many instances, the global pandemic has forced us to communicate in different ways. We can’t go over to our colleague, teacher or student in person and so we had to find another way to find closure or a solution. 

We focused on the issue, what we needed and how to articulate it in a new way. All of us increased our communication from outside of school, or the office, we’ve all had to better master digital chats, forms, messaging and email.

If you work better in a team, you’re probably realizing how much you can do on your own. If you’re always organized and structured, you've been pushed to be more flexible and find new approaches and tackle new challenges. 

All of us continue to grow in different ways as this digital era continues to change and evolve!

3. Embracing the Evolution of Connections & Relationships

What ways have I become closer to colleagues, friends and family? 

We continue to spend more time on our devices, and our relationship with them continues to evolve. We seek advice and information on search engines, but we also have increased ability to connect on social media platforms for those same answers. In some cases, we’re unable to see each other because of distance and restrictions. 

In the past few weeks, our team has created values and demonstrated our values and our commitment to creating meaningful, authentic experiences for students abroad. We continue to serve our school communities as we prepare for the future. 

We’ve found new ways to connect with each other in positive ways. Virtual coffees and virtual meetups have become more popular. In the past, that text message or phone call wishing someone a happy birthday has become a Zoom with friends and family. 

Please make sure that you’re taking time to reflect on your own growth and the challenges that you’ve overcome these past few weeks and months! If you’re a teacher, professor or administrator, we would love to hear from you!

Click here to share your growth with us and your passion for teaching your students!