The Entrepreneurial Scholars Award is designed to support students from all disciplines committed to the study and practice of entrepreneurship. In addition to supporting individual student entrepreneurs, this award is also aimed at fostering a vibrant, multi-disciplined community of entrepreneurs on campus. Wittenberg’s motto, “Having light, we pass it on to others” is central to Wittenberg’s approach in educating the next generation of entrepreneurs and change-makers in all aspects of life.

Criteria: Scholarships will be awarded to up to 10 incoming students who have maintained a cumulative high school GPA of 3.0 or higher and exhibit a strong interest in entrepreneurship and a willingness to engage with Wittenberg’s community of student entrepreneurs. Students with prior entrepreneurial experience and a desire to take that experience to the next level in college are especially encouraged to apply.

Amount: $2,500 per year or $10,000 over four years.

Guidelines: Students must submit the Entrepreneurial Scholars Award application by January 15 and write a personal essay explaining how you demonstrate the qualities of entrepreneurial thinking and practice. Your essay should emphasize why you are the best candidate for this award and how you plan to incorporate entrepreneurial study and practice into your college experience. Where appropriate, this essay should align with your planned field of study at Wittenberg. Upon acceptance to Wittenberg University, finalists will be selected for an interview with faculty and current entrepreneurship students.

Expectations: Entrepreneurial Scholar Awards are renewable annually to students who actively participate in the WittEntrepreneurs Program. This may include working in the operations/management of ventures run by the program, contributing to the ventures owned and managed by other students and perhaps even launching ventures of their own. The Program Director will validate the efforts and participation of all students in the program to determine eligibility for renewal of the award beyond the freshman year. Award winners will be expected to participate in the Emerging Leaders Program during their freshman year. While award winners will undoubtedly pursue a wide variety of fields of study, it is expected that all will successfully complete BUSN 200, Entrepreneurship, prior to the end of the sophomore year.

Mentoring: Entrepreneurial Scholars, regardless of the major being pursued, will have an opportunity to participate in the Business Department’s student mentoring program in which students have an opportunity to select a mentor from participating Wittenberg alumni, many of whom are successful entrepreneurs.

Please note that the scholarship application deadline has been extended to February 1, 2013