The Martin Luther King Scholarship is offered to juniors in high school who combine  academic excellence, community service, and financial need.

This scholarship gives the students $20,000 with installments of $5,000 dollars over four years. The Board of Trustees will send the money directly to your college of choice 

Five students have been awarded this scholarship, Allen and Alex Dufort, Errien Williams, Laika Bertrand, and Krishna Patel. This is the first time that five recipients in New London County have been chosen from Norwich Free Academy.

Before the students are selected they had to fill out an in depth application.

 “The process for applying for the scholarship started with an application form and an essay. Based off of the components of your application, a group of candidates were chosen to be interviewed. After the interview, a group of scholars are chosen to receive the award,” Says Errien William.

Along with the application, was the interview and essay portion. The essay portion was about the teachings of Dr. King. 

“The essay was based on Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail. You had to explain how his message in the letter would influence your development as an individual. Basically, how you would turn Dr. King’s dreams into reality through your education. You also had to use a quote from the Letter in your essay. The biggest challenge for me was the limit. The essay could only be 1 page, double spaced, Times New Roman size 12. The interview itself was much shorter than I expected It was at L&M hospital on a Saturday afternoon. There were about 5-6 interviewers who asked a question. It lasted about 10 minutes,” explained Krishna Patel.

Scholarships help students with financial problems, who can’t afford the full price of college and the requirements of college.

“Scholarships are important because it can help those who want to further their education, but cannot afford it. Scholarships are also a good way to reward students who persevere in certain fields or studies, like football or math,” said Allen Dufort.

These scholarships are a good way to let students know that all their hard work was worth it. That they get to go to college even when the prices are too high. It shows that no matter what, students should always work hard, that there is a scholarship out there for everyone.