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SAFENA Inaugural 2025 Scholarship

Scholarship Eligibility

  1. Students must be one of the following

    1. High school seniors applying to college and will continue their education at a four-year university in Fall 2025

    2. Community college students transferring to a university who will continue their education in Fall 2025

    3. Four-year university students who will continue their education in Fall 2025

    4. Graduate students who will continue their education in Fall 2025

      1. Please note: If selected, you are only allowed one scholarship per educational level. (i.e. 1 for undergrad, 1 for graduate program).

  2. Minimum GPA requirement is 3.0.

  3. Applicants must have at least one parent who is Syrian or Syrian-American.

  4. Applicants must be accepted to a university and working towards a bachelor’s, master's, or doctoral degree. Community college students may apply if they are starting university in the fall 2025 semester/quarter.

Scholarship Instructions

Part 1: Applicant Information

  1. Contact information such as name, email, address, parental information will be collected. Please ensure you are using a phone number and email address that you have access to and check regularly.

Part 2: Educational Background

  1. This is where you will share your transcripts and information about your institutions, majors, degrees, graduation year, etc.

Part 3: Extracurricular Involvement

  1. This is where you will upload your resumé. We want to learn about your involvement including but not limited to work/internship experience, community service activities, awards/scholarships, skills, and other extracurriculars.

Part 4: Essay Responses

  1. You will have 4 prompts to choose from. You must respond to only 2 of the 4 questions.

  2. Each response is limited to a maximum of 400 words.

  3. Which questions you choose to answer is entirely up to you. However, you should select questions that are most relevant to your experience and that best reflect your individual circumstances.

  4. Please use this section for your essay responses. 

  5. Prompts

    1. Please describe your projected career goals upon completion of your academic program and what you believe to be the greatest opportunities in your chosen field.

    2. Please describe how your Syrian-American identity has impacted your educational journey. How has being part of this community shaped who you are today? 

    3. Please describe some of your accomplishments. Examples include your academics, extracurricular activities, leadership experience, and community service.

    4. Share a personal story of resilience and how it has shaped your goals. Describe the challenge you faced and how you were able to overcome it.

Part 5: Recommendation Requirement

  1. Please submit between one (1) and three (3) letters of recommendation (professional, academic, or personal). The sources must not be from relatives or significant others. The letters will come from the person making the recommendation and directly sent to gwaneis@safena.org.* These letters must be received by April 20, 2025.

Part 6: Informed Consent

Completed applications must be submitted by April 20, 2025 11:59 P.M. Pacific Time (PT)

SAFENA 2025 Scholarship Application

Thank you for your interest in applying for the inaugural Syrian Americans for Educational Needs and Advancement (SAFENA) 2025 Scholarship. The SAFENA Scholarship seeks to reward the achievements of high school graduating seniors and college undergraduate/graduate students who have combined academic excellence with a commitment to increasing the understanding or improving the welfare of people of Syrian-American heritage.


Before you start this applications, you must review the "Scholarship Eligibility and Instructions" on our website. www.safena.org/scholarship


Deadline to submit this application (including all application materials) is April 20, 2025 11:59 P.M. Pacific Time (PT)

Applicant Information

Make sure add 1 before area code

As a part of the eligibility requirements, applicants must have at least one parent who is Syrian or Syrian-American.


Educational Background

You may upload transcripts from high school, community college, and/or university.

Please upload in PDF format

What level of education do you currently attend?
High School
Community College
University
Graduate School

Extracurricular Involvement

Please upload in PDF format

Essay Responses

Letters of Recommendation

Please submit between one (1) and three (3) letters of recommendation (professional, academic, or personal). The sources must not be from relatives or significant others. The letters will come from the person making the recommendation and directly sent to scholar@safena.org.* These letters must be received by April 20, 2025.

How many letters of recommendations are you submitting?
1
2
3

I have submitted between one (1) and three (3) letters of recommendation (professional, academic, or personal). The sources are not my relatives or significant other. The letters will come from the person making the recommendation and directly sent to scholarship@safena.org *

These letters must be received by April 20, 2025.

Informed Consent

By typing my full name and signing below, I give SAFENA permision to use my name in its promotional materials and publicity efforts. I understand that my name may be used in a publication, print ad, direct mail piece, or other form of promotion.

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