Theodore Roosevelt Morton South Carolina Society SAR Scholarship

1. The applicant must be a high school senior in an accredited public or private school or home school program.

2. Applicants do NOT have to be related to members of the Sons of the American Revolution.

3. Applicants must demonstrate significant academic achievement.

4. Applicants must be of good character.

5. Applicants must demonstrate good citizenship.

6. Applicants must demonstrate patriotism.  

A completed application package will consist of the following items:

1. Completed application form (available here.)

2. A recent picture of the applicant (no larger than 2” X 3”, attached to the application)

3. An official transcript covering all high school work through the first session of the senior year (fall semester) is required. Transcripts may be emailed directly by the school to the Scholarship Committee at scsarscholarship@gmail.com. 

4. SAT or ACT scores. These scores may be submitted on the transcript. 

5. Two recommendations (recommendation form link) must be complete.
   a. These recommendations must be from persons other than relatives or SAR members signing the application.
   b. They should be knowledgeable as to the applicant’s academic record, patriotism, community service, and character.
   c. One recommendation must be from a high school teacher of an academic subject and one from someone not associated with the high school or any other school the applicant has attended.

• Partial recommendations are not acceptable.

• Additional recommendations should NOT be submitted.  

• Recommendation forms are available from our website (recommendation form link) and must be completed and submitted online.

• Letters in lieu of the recommendation forms will not be accepted.

• Recommendations submitted by mail or by a third person will NOT be accepted.

• Recommendations must be realistic and believable.

• Recommendations that rate the applicant as perfect will be rejected since perfection is not realistic.

• Ratings of perfect in any category must be validated by documented evidence. This is required because of the many unrealistic recommendations that we have received in the past few years. Recommendation inflation gives us no usable information.

• Rejected recommendations may be replaced one time, but must be submitted by a different person.

6. SAR Member Sponsorship
   The applicant must be sponsored by two members of the Sons of the American Revolution in good standing. They should know and recommend the applicant, but must not be relatives of the applicant, nor can they be members of the Scholarship Committee. Each sponsor must submit a sponsorship form (located here), and state and national numbers must be included. The status of recommending members will be checked with the National Society Sons of the American Revolution.

7. Written personal statement of the applicant
The personal statement must address each of the following:

A.  Applicant’s achievements

1. Exclude your academic record

2. Include achievements not evidenced elsewhere.

B. Applicant’s aspirations

1. What do you want to accomplish in life ― professionally, personally, etc.?

2. Your goals should be achievable and reasonable.

3. Your principles and beliefs ― (What do you believe in and how do you try to live that out?)

C. Applicant’s patriotism
Significant evidence of demonstrated patriotism is required. This may take the form of public service, veteran service, membership in patriotic organizations, recognition of patriotism such as a Boy/Girl Scout patriotism badge, projects, etc. Membership in political parties and work for political candidates is not acceptable.

7. Advice
When composing your personal statement, tell us what you would like us to know about you; be honest about your accomplishments;  avoid the appearance of conceit and grandstanding; and be real.

8. Submission of personal statement
a. This statement should be composed in a word processing document (Word, Google Docs, etc) and must contain the applicant’s name.
b. Personal statements submitted by mail or by a third party will NOT be accepted.
c. The personal statement is to be submitted by attaching it to your application. Don't forget to attach your picture to the application as well. 

• You will receive confirmation by email when your application is received.

• You will receive a second confirmation by email when your application packet is complete.

• No confirmations will be made by mail or phone. Confirmation will only be made to a valid e-mail address submitted with the application.

• No confirmation may be made to third parties. (The privacy of the applicant is paramount. No information about the applicant will be released to anyone without a need to know.)

Deadline

There will be two application windows:

• Applications must be received no later than November 15, 2023. 

• All supporting material must be received no later than November 15, 2023.  

• Applications must be received no later than February 15, 2024.

• All supporting material must be received no later than February 15, 2024.

1. No extensions will be given.

2. All material must be received by the Scholarship Committee chairman on or before the deadlines given above.

Selection is based on a point system with weighted points for each category of criteria.

1. Evidence of patriotic activity is essential. 

2. All members of the selection committee have equal votes. 

3. The chairman has the sole authority to break any tie. 

4. The decision of the judges is final and there is no appeal. 

5. Disqualification: The chairman has the sole authority to rule on the disqualification of a candidate.

The amount of the Scholarship will be $1,500.00. It may be paid directly to the winner or to the college of the awardee's choice as a scholarship (recommended for tax reasons).

Applicants, but not parents, may contact the chairman of the committee, but may not contact any other member of the selection committee, nor should anyone else contact any member of the selection committee on behalf of the applicant. Questions should be directed to scsarscholarship@gmail.com.  

1. The high school of the applicant will be notified by email if we have an email address. Permission to do so is implied by signing the application form.

2. Announcement and pictures of the winner may be published by the SCSSAR. Permission to do so is implied by signing the application form.

1. The scholarship will be presented at the SCSSAR Annual Meeting awards luncheon TBA. 

2. The recipient will be expected to attend the presentation event. 

3. Information on attendance will be provided before the Annual Meeting.