SIUE Student Scholarship
This scholarship is awarded to one SIUE undergraduate student who has demonstrated the characteristics and ideals of Dr. King. The awardee must be admitted or enrolled for full-time study at SIUE for the fall semester after they are awarded the scholarship (when the scholarship is applied). They must earn a cumulative GPA of 3.0 (on a 4.0 scale) upon application and have completed at least one academic term as a full-time undergraduate student at SIUE.
Scholarship applicants will be judged on the following criteria:
- Scholarship
- Commitment to humanitarian ideals
- Leadership and/or community service
- Three letters of recommendation (Must be forwarded by the writers)
- Personal resumé
- A personal statement of 250 words which expresses a commitment to the values and beliefs of Dr. King, as well as future goals
- A brief essay reflecting on a piece selected by the scholarship selection committee
- The essay should be a reflection of the theme for the 2024 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Luncheon, We Are Called to be a Movement. Also, the title of keynote speaker, Rev. Dr. Barber's book, this theme stems from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1968 Poor People's Campaign that was unfinished then revived by Rev. Dr. Barber in 2018. This campaign was originally part of the second phase of the Civil Rights Movement led by Dr. King just before his assassination. Today it continues Dr. King's work in fighting systemic racism and demanding equity for poor communities in the United States.
"We have moved from the era of civil rights to the era of human rights, an era where we are called upon to raise certain basic questions about the whole society. We have been in a reform movement...But after Selma and the voting rights bill, we moved into a new era, which must be the era of revolution. We must recognize that we can't solve our problem now until there is a radical redistribution of economic and political power." -- Report to Report to Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Staff (May 1967)
- The essay should be a reflection of the theme for the 2024 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Luncheon, We Are Called to be a Movement. Also, the title of keynote speaker, Rev. Dr. Barber's book, this theme stems from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1968 Poor People's Campaign that was unfinished then revived by Rev. Dr. Barber in 2018. This campaign was originally part of the second phase of the Civil Rights Movement led by Dr. King just before his assassination. Today it continues Dr. King's work in fighting systemic racism and demanding equity for poor communities in the United States.
Past Award Winners
- 2023 Kiya Rainey
- 2022 Jaala Taylor
- 2021 Armon Adkins
- 2020 Jullianne Bigueras
- 2019 Vernon Smith
- 2018 Jonathan Amwayi
