2024 SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION

The Rochester West Indian Festival Organization, Inc. was founded in 1984 to preserve cultural heritage among Caribbean people and their descendants and to share this culture with the Greater Rochester community. RWIFO, Inc. is dedicated to our youth's educational success and building a strong Caribbean Community, Culturally, Socially, and Financially. The Organization will share its success by offering scholarships to deserving minority graduating high school seniors of the Greater Rochester area.

• Seven financial awards ranging from $1,000 to $1,500 will be awarded to graduating seniors to go towards their college education at an accredited college. Six $1,000 scholarships will be awarded based on academic merit.
   
• One $1,500 scholarship, the Mary Thompson Community Service Award, will be awarded to a student who has performed outstanding community service in memory of Mary Thompson, founding member and first RWIFO president.

2024 Application Form

Scholarship Eligibility and Selection Criteria

• Applicant must be a resident of Monroe County.
• Applicant must be of West Indian descent/origin. One or both parents or grandparents must be Caribbean with family roots from: Aruba, Antiqua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, St. Kitts and Nevis, Curacao, Bonaire, Dominica, Turks and Caicos, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana, Martinique, Saint Lucia, US Virgin Islands,
• Applicant must be a graduating high school senior.
• Applicant must demonstrate high academic achievement with a grade point average of 3.0 (B) or better.
• Applicant must be committed to entering a college or university in the Fall of 2024. To qualify for the scholarship, the student must apply and start college in the fall of 2024.
• Applicant must submit TWO letters of recommendation:
  
  • One from a high school counselor or current teacher.
  • One from a community leader, a former teacher, supervisor, or mentor, etc..
• Applicant must submit an official transcript from high school, which includes:
  
  • Senior grades to date
  • Grade point average
     

Scholarship recipients will be selected based on their academic performance, community involvement, extracurricular activities, and essay responses.

Due Date: May 3, 2024

For more information, email scholarship@rwifo.com