Scholarships & Fundraising

SCHOLARSHIPS

At HOBY, we strive to build and support a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment that is representative of our communities. In order to welcome diverse students to our programs and to remove barriers to participation, we are currently offering seminar scholarships for students who are racially, ethnically, or culturally diverse.

HOBY West Virginia is allotted five (5) scholarships to use.

There is no formal application process for the diversity scholarship as we will depend on schools and community partners to nominate students.

How do we define race, ethnicity, and culture?

Race is a concept most often used to refer to a person's physical characteristics. Historically, in the United States, racial diversity refers to people of color.
Ethnicity refers to a group of people who have a common and distinctive culture, religion, language, or the like, often identifying with each other on the basis of those shared and distinguishable attributes.
Culture is what shapes our identity and influences our behavior. Often considered our "way of being," it refers to the shared language, beliefs, values, norms, behaviors, and objects which are passed down to individuals and groups by those before them.

Please keep in mind none of these distinctions are an assumption of socioeconomic status or need. The students who attend our seminars are part of the most diverse generation in our nation's history. In fact, new Census data shows people of color now make up the majority of the population under 18 years old. In order for us to provide a truly inclusive experience, we need to take steps to ensure HOBY ambassadors are broadly representative of their generation.

FUNDRAISING

For schools, parents, and students - the flat fee to attend HOBY usually hovers around $400. For the accurate pricing, please visit our Events tab where we will update the price each year.

Often we receive questions around, "who is responsible for paying?" which doesn't have a clear answer. Most often, we see schools covering the cost of the program fee. However, some schools want to send more than one student and the associated cost of doing so becomes a question.

Anyone is able to cover the cost of a student attending a HOBY Seminar. However, we also encourage leveraging community partners to help. We typically partner with local Lions Clubs or Rotary clubs to help cover sending ambassadors from schools in those communities. We have also seen parents pay outright, students pay for themselves through installments, past HOBY alumni have covered fees before, and we've also seen local groups like religious organizations or cultural groups sponsor individuals too.

If you are interested in fundraising, we encourage starting within your school and personal community. If you need help with fundraising ideas, please contact us and we'll try our best to pull some resources together for you to connect with.