Deadline for Applications is Saturday, April 3, 2021. Anything mailed must be postmarked by this date. Anything submitted electronically must be submitted by this date. Anything after this will not be accepted. No exceptions. (Unless we have another pandemic and you get in touch first. Don’t wait until after the deadline to ask if it’s okay for some stuff to be late. No.)

For US residents only. Scholarship award size will vary based on amount of money raised during the year. Some will be $500, some will be $1,000, some might even be up to $2,000. Scholarships are for high school students going into college ONLY. Not for current college students or students returning to college, or any other sort of student. Student must be signing up for full time classes – college of their choice – study of their choice. 4 year, 2 year, trade, technical, barber, beauty, welding, ANY type of secondary school. Students can be from any school in the US. Public, private, religious, or home school, etc. Must have at least 2.5 gpa, EFC of $6,500 or less.

Submit in the mail

High school transcript with a stamp or seal from your counselor. A stamp or seal means the counselor will use a tool to make a mark on the paper that shows it’s officially from the school. Every school uses something different. Some use a rubber stamp, some emboss the paper. Two letters of recommendation. From a teacher or school official, an employer, volunteer organization, or somebody else. Not family. Get letters from people who know you, who you’ve worked with, etc. Your essay PRINTED OUT – with NO contact info printed on it. A card or piece of paper with your name, email, phone, and mailing address.

This can be sent to

Newton Pens Scholarships

PO BOX 6084

Hot Springs, Ar. 71902

ADVICE ON THESE ESSAYS:

I see these scholarships as an investment in your futures just like the help I got was an investment in me. I wouldn’t be where I’m at now, not making pens, not raising money for scholarships, and not having taught the 7 years I did, if not for that help I got after high school. So…

Tell us YOUR story. Tell us a little about yourself, what motivates you, and why you want to go to college. Maybe something happened when you were a little younger, somebody told you something, you saw something or did something… Try to avoid telling us any religious, race, or gender info so that our volunteers reading the essays can avoid grading bias. Don’t tell us how expensive college is. That just feels like filler. Don’t tell us how many years you plan to go to school, or about the school you’re planning on attending. I’m not going to Big City State University and don’t need to learn about it. That’s more filler. Don’t give us textbook definitions of what a scientist, a lawyer, a doctor (or whatever) is. That’s just filler. If you want to thank us for considering your application, keep it to a sentence. We don’t need a paragraph about this – that’s more filler. If you want to write a nice thank you note on the side, and include it with your application, we do appreciate those. GET SOMEBODY TO PROOF READ YOUR ESSAY! If it’s hard to read for you, it’ll be hard to read for us. There’s no shame in asking for help. I’m not so concerned about typos or bad grammar, but more with structure and clarity of message. If you ramble and go back and forth, or things are out of order, you won’t score as well.

Your application will be discarded if

Essay does not meet minimum word count of 900-1,000 words. Does not include OFFICIAL transcript. Does not include two letters of recommendation. Does not have any contact info. OH MY GOD. KIDS. How are you going to apply for money and NOT INCLUDE ANY CONTACT INFO??? Some of you have not even put return addresses on your envelopes. PLEASE! I can’t give you money if you don’t give me all the information I need.

Click here to submit your essay.