ELIGIBILITY

Applicant must be a participating member in good standing of a Northern California Outrigger Canoe Association (NCOCA) member outrigger canoe club, as verified by a coach or board member as defined in REQUIREMENTS.

Applicant will have completed high school or obtained a GED prior to the 2024 - 2025 academic year, regardless of age of completion.

REQUIREMENTS

1. Completed scholarship application Form.
   
   
2. Transcripts from last year of high school or current post-high school term: Include as much coursework as possible from the current institution to demonstrate scholastic achievement. Online or unofficial transcripts downloaded from the institution are acceptable. Transcripts must include the latest cumulative GPA.
   
   
3. Proof of enrollment for the 2024 - 2025 academic year at the named institution. Proof of enrollment shall be one of the following:
   
   • Letter of acceptance if attending the named institution for the first year (e.g., incoming college freshman, junior transfer from community college to university).
   • Transcripts from current term, if already attending and continuing to attend the named institution during the 2024 - 2025
     academic year.
     
     
4. Two letters of recommendation: One letter of recommendation must come from an NCOCA club coach or board member serving as your sponsor. The second can come from another community leader (e.g., school administrator, coach, teacher, NCOCA club president or board member, or Kumu Hula). The letter must be signed and reply to the following prompts in at least 11 point font, one page maximum:
   
   • What is your relationship to the applicant and how long have you known the applicant?
   • Describe why this applicant would be a good candidate for this scholarship.
   
   

5. Personal Statements: You will be required to enter three personal statements into the scholarship application. We suggest you complete and edit your personal statements in a word processor and copy your final text into the Google form linked above. Responses are 1000 characters maximum (including spaces). The three personal statement prompts are as follows:
   

   a) Please describe your post-high school educational goals and career objectives. (1000 characters or less.)

   b) What does Outrigger paddling mean to you? How have you participated in and contributed to your affiliated NCOCA outrigger club? (1000 characters or less.)

   c) Is there something you have not mentioned on this application that is central to your identity, on which you would like to elaborate? Examples may include a personal challenge and how you responded, a meaningful event in your life, or other topic of your choosing. (1000 characters or less.)

   
   

EVALUATION OF APPLICATIONS

Applications will be evaluated wholistically according to the following criteria, each with a rating of 1 to 5:

• 30% Scholastic Achievement (Coursework completed as shown on transcripts and GPA)

• 50% Personal Statements

• 20% Letters of Recommendation
  
  

The evaluation committee will consist of members of the NCOCA scholarship committee and the NCOCA Executive Board with no more than a single representative from a given outrigger club. The evaluation committee members will independently evaluate applications and an average aggregated score will be assigned to each application.