Greetings!  My name is Sally Smart and I will be graduating from Anytown High School this June.  I am very excited about the Scientific Leadership Scholars Program and would like to take this opportunity to tell you more about myself and why I feel that I am a good candidate for this scholarship.

Since beginning high school I have been very involved in my campus community.  I have volunteered with the Key Club since a freshman, and this year was voted President!  My experience with the Key Club has helped me to develop leadership skills and has allowed me to provide valuable service to my community.  This past summer my fellow club members and I adopted a park and picked up garbage every weekend.  We took up the responsibility of caring for this park and ensuring that our community members had access to a safe and welcoming environment.  After the school year started and I was voted President, I organized the club members into teams of three, and each weekend the teams take turns continuing the upkeep of the park.  I have also been actively involved with the Math Club, an organization that has broadened my interest in mathematics, and where I have developed my skills as a peer tutor.  I have always enjoyed math and now have the tools to help my classmates succeed in this challenging subject.  Mr. Pythagoras, the Math Club advisor and my math instructor, and I have had many conversations about the career possibilities in the field of mathematics.  He helped me to develop a program where Math Club members work with elementary aged students to improve their math preparedness.  Our goals for this program are: 1) to improve performance in math; 2) to increase interest in math; and 3) to raise the awareness of the application of math in the real world.  This experience has helped me make the decision to major in Mathematics at Humboldt State University and then to pursue a career teaching Mathematics.

My participation in Key Club and the Math Club require a lot of time, but I have learned to balance my academics with my extra-curricular activities, and have been achieved a cumulative 3.15 G.P.A.  My academic success is very important to me, but it is also important to me to be an active and purposeful member of my community.  One of the aspects of the SLSP that I find so exciting is that the program provides support to its students to ensure their success, and also provides them with the opportunity to work alongside classmates, professors and community members to address a problem within the environment and apply knowledge from Math, Engineering and Computer Science to find a solution.   I feel that I am a strong candidate for the SLSP because of my academic potential and my commitment to my community.  Thank you for your consideration.

Respectfully,
Sally Smart