Do your sons/daughters receiver the HSF Insider and HSF Career Center emails? They usually tell about various opportunities like webinars, internships, professional development workshops, etc.
Speaking of which, Scholar Celebrations are on the calendar already.
Speaking of which, has anybody’s son or daughter heard from HSF this year? Last year notices went out on the 16th. My daughter has not heard anything, but today received an invite to the HSF Scholar Celebration. However, it says as a designated 2023 HSF Scholar you are invited… and at the end of the email it has the usual verbiage it specifically says the usual words about how many people applied this year. Then it says, in addition as a 2023 HSF Scholar, blah blah blah. Are these years just typos? Or is she being invited for her 2023 win? Or did the celebration invite precede 2024 the scholar notification because they aren’t done yet and the celebrations start in a few weeks (and also have typos on the year since last year’s award was for 2023). She logged in and nothing there like there normally would be to verify enrollment when you receive notification of HSF Scholar.
My daughter was notified yesterday.
My son was an HSF scholar in 2023 and selected for the Leadership Conference in August (in LA, all expenses paid.) Apparently they only choose 120 scholars for that 3 day conference, so he’s very excited.
Having said that, he was NOT selected as a 2024 HSF scholar. He did not get $ for his 2023 selection & knows that you are a scholar for life, even if you never apply again. He has taken advantage of the workshops and resources so he’s happy to be a scholar. But he wanted to try again, in the hopes of maybe getting a monetary award this year, even if small. Just seems strange that they chose him for the leadership conference (something they pitch as a big deal and only top scholars get invited to) but then rejected him from consideration for 2024 HSF.
Is it common to be chosen for HSF one year, then rejected the next? Maybe they try to make room for new scholars since they are limited in numbers?
Maybe his application wasn’t as strong as last year, so I don’t want to imply this is unfair or that he’s entitled to this, or ANY competitive award. Obviously, they have a system & process for selecting scholars with high standards. Just saying I was a little surprised.
He also received that invitation to the celebration, referring to him as a 2023 scholar.
So that is a good question. My daughter receives invites to the STEM Summit and the Finance Conference. Last year she was invited to the Leadership Summit and applied kind of late, so she was accepted into the Virtual portion and waitlisted for the in-person portion. I figured if she did the virtual portion, she probably had a good chance of getting into the in-person portion. But then she received a summer Fellowship and wasn’t able to attend the virtual portion. Which is actually a problem with a lot of their events, summits and conferences. They occur during weekdays or during the school year when students have conflicts. There is no way my daughter feels comfortable skipping multiple days of classes to go to a summit, she is double major and pre-med on top of that and doing research too and that’s just the academics. She almost went to an event that was only a few hours away, but she had an exam the next morning, so she couldn’t. But the wording on the invites she receives is always of the nature “HSF identifies and invites a select group of rising junior and senior students from a highly competitive pool of current HSF Scholars to attend”. Same thing with the HSF Celebration - she wants to go this year, but it is 6-9 on a Thursday. She is taking one summer class, and it meets Mon-Thurs from 1-6 every day.
But if your son was invited to the Leadership Conference and is attending, I would think that would be a clear sign that he would be someone who would receive it. He received a letter that actually said he was NOT selected? That is so odd. Did it say he did not submit all of the requirements or anything? Perhaps he can reach out to them and ask, since he was selected for the Leadership Conference. Mention that up front.
My daughter did receive an email on Friday I think saying she was selected as a 2024 scholar, but once again it was different. The first year said scholar and then “finally, you will receive a scholarship between $500-$5000”, the second one last year said scholar and then said, should funds become available you may be eligible for a scholarship. This one just says 2024 scholar and makes no mention of funds or scholarships. If anything, I would say her resume has become more impressive each year. So, I think with each year, they want to see HSF Scholars engaging with HSF offerings and so far, other than the celebration, my daughter has not had a chance to engage.
She received a reminder invite to the celebration, still says 2023 scholar, even though now she has been named a 2024 scholar (although without a scholarship and without a chance of a scholarship I guess) 
Below is the email he received, followed by another email with an invitation to a scholar reception for being a 2023 scholar.
I agree that the times they offer many of these events (online & in person) are not convenient for most college students. One was offered on a Saturday, but he works as a research assistant on the weekends @ Case Western. Even the National Leadership Conference is offered Aug.15-18 and some candidates are probably involved in leadership things like Freshman orientation or other events. My son was lucky he doesn’t need to return until August 21st. Your daughter is wise to focus on academics, sounds like she is busy & doing amazing things!
So there is no mention of the $500-$5000 awards in this year’s letter? Very odd. Perhaps they should rename HSF since “scholarship fund” implies monetary awards. I don’t think my son will bother emailing them to ask about it, he’s happy he’s in for life and feels there is little chance of $ even if they offered him the 2024 status. Best of luck to your daughter!
Thank you for applying to the 2024 HSFScholar Program. We regret to inform you that you were not selected for this year’s HSF Scholar Program.
However, as a current HSF Scholar who was selected in a prior year, you continue to have access to a full range of Scholar Support Services, including career services, mentorship, leadership development, knowledge building, and wellness training.
Also, you remain a member of a nationwide network of HSF Scholars and Alumni that you will be able to access today and in the future.
As you already know, being an HSF Scholar is a significant accomplishment and distinction. It is an acknowledgement of your hard work and dedication.
If you have not done so already, we encourage you to share your HSF Scholar status on your resume, LinkedIn profile, and other social media profiles to support and enhance your higher-education and career journeys.
We encourage you to continue striving for excellence and to consider applying again next year if you are eligible. The 2025 HSFScholar Program application will open in January 2025.
In addition, we encourage you to pursue other scholarship resources that may be available to you to help fund your education. Here are links to several of Emilio,
Thank you for applying to the 2024 HSFScholar Program. We regret to inform you that you were not selected for this year’s HSF Scholar Program.
However, as a current HSF Scholar who was selected in a prior year, you continue to have access to a full range of Scholar Support Services, including career services, mentorship, leadership development, knowledge building, and wellness training.
Also, you remain a member of a nationwide network of HSF Scholars and Alumni that you will be able to access today and in the future.
As you already know, being an HSF Scholar is a significant accomplishment and distinction. It is an acknowledgement of your hard work and dedication.
If you have not done so already, we encourage you to share your HSF Scholar status on your resume, LinkedIn profile, and other social media profiles to support and enhance your higher-education and career journeys.
We encourage you to continue striving for excellence and to consider applying again next year if you are eligible. The 2025 HSFScholar Program application will open in January 2025.
In addition, we encourage you to pursue other scholarship resources that may be available to you to help fund your education. Here are links to several of them:
We wish you much continued success with your academic and personal goals.
Fidel A. Vargas
President & CEO
My daughter received an invite to apply for the HSF Media and Entertainment Summit. She applied and was notified that she passed phase 1 and was selected to move forward to phase 2. A lot of notice was given for phase 1 but only a few days were given to apply for phase 2. Phase 2 required an essay, a 1 page resume, and a professional headshot in formal business attire with a white background. The sample photo showed a person in a suit tie. She did not have one that met the criteria and we didn’t have much time so she put on my suit jacket with a white blouse and stood in front of a pull down projector screen in our house. I took the photo and I think it came out fine. Anyway here’s hoping she gets selected. It involves one weekend via zoom and another weekend in person in Los Angeles, all expenses paid.
Well, it paid off! My daughter was selected. So this HSF 2022 has been worth it. Initially she didn’t receive any scholarship money, just the title of being an HSF scholar but now two years later she received this opportunity through HSF. She applied and was accepted. She will be participating in an all expense paid media and entertainment summit. They will be flying to LA and have speakers and networking and tour places like Disney and Warner bros.
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