The GCFM Horticulture Scholarship
Details of the Award
The purpose of the GCFM Horticulture Scholarship is to encourage and financially aid students who are interested in a future major or in a current major in horticulture, floriculture, landscape design, conservation, forestry, botany, agronomy, plant pathology, environmental control, city planning, and/or other gardening related fields.
Eligibility Requirements
Applicants must meet all eligibility requirements as listed on the National Garden Clubs Scholarships website (http://www.gardenclub.org/youth/scholarships.aspx). The student must be a legal resident of the State of Maine and must be a junior or senior in an undergraduate program leading to a degree in one of the previously mentioned areas. College sophomores are eligible to apply, as they will be entering their junior year the following fall. Masters students pursuing an education in one of these fields are also eligible, but PhD students are not. Masters students must be enrolled for the fall semester following the award. If awaiting acceptance to graduate school, students should apply on the basis of expenses and programs that would pertain to their preferred school. The GCFM Scholarship Chair should be notified with respect to acceptance in a graduate program as soon as possible and preferably on or before March 21 for full consideration.
Application Procedures
In an effort to conserve on paper and facilitate the ease and speed of application and review, both the GCFM and National Garden Clubs are moving as much as possible to an electronically based application process. Applicants should download the one-page GCFM application form and all of the NGC application forms, fill them out electronically and submit that material along with their letter of application (2 pages maximum) and their list of activities (2 pages maximum) to the GCFM Scholarship Chair, Mary Blackstone at Mary.Blackstone@uregina.ca.
Only pages requiring signatures (eg. NGC Application Form, the Financial Aid form) should also be forwarded to the Chair by mail or courier. Unofficial transcripts may be submitted electronically but official transcripts should also be forwarded in paper copy. Applicants should ask their referees to send their letters electronically to the chair and send signed paper copies by post or courier to the Chair at the following address:
Mary Blackstone, GCFM Scholarship Chair, 5 Christian Ridge Road, Ellsworth, Maine, 04605
All application materials must be received by the Chair no later than March 1, and applicants are strongly advised to submit their materials well in advance so that any omissions or misunderstandings can be addressed before the applications must be forwarded for review by committee.
Applicants will be notified as to their success in the GCFM Scholarship competition
no later than May 1.
Applicant Guidelines
GCFM and NGC scholarship competitions are very competitive and often the selection of successful applicants must be done on the basis of small differences between applications. Applicants should follow the GCFM submission procedures and NGC application requirements very carefully. Applicants should feel free to contact the GCFM Scholarship Chair for clarification and are encouraged to ask their financial aid officers or academic supervisors for assistance and feedback on their application.
In completing the Financial Aid Form applicants and financial aid officers should make certain that to the best of their ability the information on that form reflects the actual financial circumstances of the student should they receive an NGC and GCFM Scholarship. In other words, any reduction in otherwise committed scholarships or loans that would occur as a result of NGC and/or GCFM awards should be fully disclosed.
With respect to letters of reference, applicants are encouraged to select referees who are familiar with their academic or professional accomplishments in related fields of horticulture and the environment. Academic supervisors, professors, teachers, researchers, previous employers or colleagues in professional associations, 4H or scout leaders, senior gardeners or horticulturists in the community, etc are in a position to provide the strongest recommendations for the purposes of these scholarships. Family members, room mates or other student friends are not as good a choice for referees in this competition.
Timelines
March 1 --Receipt of all application materials by the Scholarship Chair
Before May 1--Notification of the results of the competition
June 21, Castine --Formal award of the scholarship at GCFM Scholarship Banquet (2011 date)
August--$3300 is forwarded to the student’s
GCFM Horticulture Scholarship Application Form
Word Version PDF Version
NGC Scholarship website link: http://www.gardenclub.org/youth/scholarships.aspx