Montana Governor’s Office Offers Scholarships for Volunteer Service

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - High school seniors throughout Montana have an opportunity to earn scholarships of $1,000 to $1,500 through volunteer service through the Montana Campus Compact.

KGVO News spoke to Sarah Sadowski, Serve Montana Director with the Governor’s Office of Community Service on Thursday about the Youth Serve Montana Scholarship.

A Cool Way for High School Seniors to get a Scholarship

“We're here at the Governor's Office of Community Service and in partnership with Reach Higher Montana, and Montana Campus Compact,” said Sadowski. “We're offering youth serve Montana scholarships for high school seniors right there in Missoula and across our state. These high school seniors a scholarship but what makes them eligible is when they contribute volunteer service."

Sadowski said the scholarships are given to students who offer 50 or 100 hours of community service.

“Through that partnership with our office, Reach Higher and Campus Compact, individuals in high school who serve 100 hours of service or 50 hours of service are eligible for a scholarship that gets applied directly to their bill as a write-off of their tuition for their freshman year next fall,” she said.

The Program is so Successful that it's getting More Money

Sadowski said the amount of scholarship awards have been increased due to the success of the program.

“This year, we're able to offer $125,000 total, and that's up from $100,000 last year, so it's very exciting to have an increased rate of a total amount, as well as to offer the two tiers,” she said. “So for 50 hours, individuals can receive $1,000 scholarships, and for the 100 hours, they can receive $1,500, and that gets applied across the two semesters.”

The Younger the Student the more they Benefit from Community Service

Sadowski said the younger the student, the more they benefit from community service while attending school.

“Our colleges are welcoming, always, but they are particularly welcoming to service-oriented individuals,” she said. In addition, there's some really good data out there that the younger a person is when they do volunteer service, the more apt they are to be civically engaged in their entire life. So we're looking to support our great Montana students attending college here in our state, as well as incentivizing their inclination to serve others.”

The Youth Serve Montana scholarship application can be found here.