Scholarships Can Lead To... Marriage?

When my son started applying for scholarships in his junior year of high school, we hoped that it would help to pay for college. Little did we know that it would set him on a path to meeting his future wife!

My son was not a gifted writer when we started the scholarship process. In fact, getting him to write scholarship essays was a bit of a fight at times. But the more he wrote, the better a writer he became.

He kept writing essays and kept applying. Then, one day in the spring of his junior year, we sat together in our living room, watching a livestream of a national scholarship he had entered as they announced the winners live on our screen.

As they announced the winners of 5th place, 4th place, and so on, both of us started to lose excitement as his name wasn’t being called. Even though I didn’t say so to my son, by the time the 2nd-place winner was announced, and his name wasn’t called, I had given up hope.

Then, they announced the first-place winner. As his name flashed on the screen, we both screamed and jumped out of our seats! My wife ran downstairs to see what all the commotion was about. My son was selected as the winner!

This win not only motivated my son to go all out with scholarships in his senior year of high school and in college, resulting in a total of 23 wins and allowing us to pay only $1500 for his degree, but it also set him on the path to his current career. Now, thanks to the many scholarship essays he wrote, he’s a very good writer. Today, his job requires him to write articles, some of which have been published in scholarly journals and well-known national publications.

But that’s not all. One of the scholarships he won as a college freshman invited him to the sponsor’s headquarters to receive his award. That led to an internship with the same organization. The following summer, as an intern, he was tasked with interviewing other students attending a conference. One of those students was a young lady who caught my son’s eye.

Last year, we celebrated my son’s marriage to that young lady whom he met at the conference!

Yes, my son’s story is a bit unusual. I don’t know how many scholarship wins set in motion a path to marriage. But I do know that our family is not the only one blessed with more than just college funding from scholarships. Macayla found a new passion because of her scholarship journey. One of Talon’s scholarship wins led to an internship. Victoria learned more about herself through her scholarship journey.

Money for college. Internships. New passions. Self-discovery. Even marriage. You never know where your student’s scholarship journey will take them.

But one thing is for sure: If they don’t apply, they’ll never find out.

If you’re ready for expert guidance for your student’s scholarship journey, check out the Scholarship Navigator programs.