Find Funding for College 17: Themes and Home Runs

This continues our series about reusable materials that will help you get money for college

The third part of your reusable master application contains your themes, categories, and home run statements. You copy and paste them into the larger fields of scholarship applications. They answer questions like “Describe your leadership experience”, “Describe your extracurricular activities”, “Describe your athletic experience”, and “Describe yourself”.

Theme Describe Your Life

You establish themes in your life by repeatedly doing something. Select 4 from the following list:

• Service
• Leadership
• Academics
• Athletics
• Creative talent
• Entrepreneurship
• Civic activism
• Survivor
• Ethnic background
• Technology
• Other

Categories Demonstrate Breadth

You must demonstrate breadth in your theme. Identify 3 categories to each theme. Here are some examples on how to divide themes:

• Service: 1) school, 2) community, and 3) church
• Leadership: 1) school, 2) community, and 3) church
• Academics: 1) math, 2) science, and 3) history
• Athletics: 1) football, 2) basketball, and 3) golf
• Creative talent: 1) dance, 2) music, and 3) art

Home Run Statements Show Depth

Write 3 home run statements for each category (4 themes x 3 categories each x 3 home run statements for each category = 36 home run statements). Read my blog describing home run statements to learn what they are and how to write them.

You prepare home run statements in 5 steps:

• Write the 36 ideas in your master application
  • “Painted addresses on house curbs for Jim’s Eagle Project”
• Expand the ideas into complete sentences
  • “One Saturday, some scouts painted home addresses on curbs of houses in our neighborhood for fire, police, and others to see better”
• Transform implied numbers into solid numbers
  • “For 6 hours one Saturday , 8 scouts painted home addresses on curbs of 72 houses in our neighborhood for fire, police, and others to see better”
• Refine the sentence
  • “I was part of a team of 8 scouts who spent 6 hours one Saturday painting addresses on the curbs of 72 houses so emergency responders could find the homes better.”
• Have someone else edit your statements

Friday we describe subjects for reusable essays and how to write them