This is a guest blog post written by our friend Monica Matthews, the author of How to Win College Scholarships. She helped her own son win over $100,000 in scholarships and now shares her expertise with other parents and their students. She truly has “been there, done that” in regards to helping parents and students navigate the scholarship process. Ms. Matthews’ step-by-step scholarship guide has taught desperate parents to help their own students win thousands of scholarship dollars. We encourage you to learn more about How to Win College Scholarships and check out the original post!

College Scholarship Tip: Make it a Volunteering Summer

AAAhhhh…summertime! Use this college scholarship tip to have fun, help others AND win money for school!

College is increasingly so expensive that parents and their students are desperate to find ways to help pay for it. I helped my son win over $100,000 in college scholarships and want to help you too. How did I do it? Read my story here.

Helping ease the burden of student debt, one college scholarship at a time.

~ Monica Matthews

Summer vacation from school is a great time for middle and high school students to volunteer in their communities and make important connections that may one day pay an essential role in winning college scholarships.

You may also like: Quick Easy College Scholarships

Scholarship providers highly value students who have been active in their communities and many applications are designed around the hours a student has volunteered.

Keeping detailed notes about all community service time will make it easier to fill out applications that ask for exact hours worked for each year of high school. Also note names and contact information of project supervisors and descriptions of the work involved. Impressive letters of recommendation can be obtained from connections made while volunteering and helping others is a wonderful way for students to spend some of those long lazy days of summer.

Not sure where to volunteer? Here are some ideas:

Church groups (Vacation Bible School, Youth group, etc…)
Hospitals
Nursing Homes
Animal Rescues and Shelters
Summer Camps
Daycare Centers
Sports Teams
Scouting Groups

If students can’t find anything on this list that peaks their interest, sit down together and make a list of what they like to do, their strengths, and what they are thinking about as a possible career. Once you have this list, see if there are any local organizations that have something to do with what the student has suggested and contact them.

If the student is still unsure about volunteering with unfamiliar people, try volunteering as a family until they are comfortable. I go into great detail in my guide, HOW TO WIN COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS, about how volunteering makes a huge difference when applying for scholarships, how students can create their own community service projects, and the way I convinced the local press to feature my son’s project on the front page of our local paper.