Camps Scholarships

Scholarships for Sternberg Museum Summer Science Camps

The deadline for camp applications and scholarship applications (both completed on CampDoc after selecting the camp or camps being applied to) is April 10th. 

Scholarships are available to help students attend the Sternberg Museum Science Camps programs. This financial aid is currently available for all programs taking place within the USA for elementary, middle, and high school students. (Scholarships may be provided for international programs, but at a lower percentage of the program fee than our domestic camps.) Aid is distributed on a need+merit basis, and is highly dependent on how much we have available to distribute in any given year.  We encourage interested potential students to apply even if they do not think they will qualify. Our goal is to make these opportunities as accessible as possible.

High School Camps scholarships

  • You can register using the  online system. This includes a scholarship application portion. You will need to pay the refundable 10% application deposit at the beginning. 
    • To do this, you will need to set up an account with CampDocs. Once this is done, you’ll be able to log back in as you complete the application process. 
  • Include the two page (5-7 paragraph) letter of interest from the student applicant. This letter should be uploaded to your online application on  CampDoc.
    • You can find suggestions for writing your letter of interest  here .
  • Letter of recommendation from the non-family member for the student applicant.
    • This can be sent to us at SternbergCamps@FHSU.edu. We will upload it to your CampDoc profile once recieved. You can also upload it your profile yourself, using the document upload portion of the Health Profile. Either approach is fine, so long as the letter is uploaded on time. 
    • You can find instructions for recommendation letter-writers  here.
    • Most* returning students in good standing** do not need to submit a recommendation letter.
      • *Students must have participated within the previous two summers. Students returning after after two or more summers will need to submit a recommendation letter. 
      • **Standing is determined by staff. A student not in good standing will be expressly notified by the Camps Director.
  • Award amounts are based on a few main factors. We seldom award scholarships for more than 50% of a camp application cost. For applicants with exceptional financial need and very strong cover and rec letters, we may provide scholarships of 80%-100%. Typically we only award between two and four scholarships of this level a year. We do not make award decisions until after the final April 10 application deadline as we assess all scholarship applicants together. Asking for a decision on award amout early is possible, but will result in a very conservative award decision. (We recommend, if possible, waiting until mid April for the regular award period.)
    • Students applying for scholarship assistance should take their own cover letter very seriously as we weigh them heavily in how we determine scholarship awards. These as always must be written by the student. Help from adults on edits is fine, but they should not be writing the letter for the student. Generative AI tools should also not be used beyond automated spelling and grammar-checkers. 
    • First time applicants should make sure to carefully consider who they ask for a rec letter. We will only consider one rec letter, even if you have multiple turned in. Turning in multiple letters is also an indicator of not following the application directions, which would count against the applicant. Remember, more doesn't mean automatic extra credit. 
    • Returning applicants do not have to turn in a recommendation letter (unless requested due to behavioral issues from a prior camp). We will however consider the simple student evaluations staff do each year of their campers. These evals focus on the student's level of engagement in the program's content, and contibutions to the group community during their time at camp. These evals function in place of the external recommendation letter for returning campers. 
    • Level of financial need is determined with a dropdown selection of an annual household income bracket. We combine this figure with assessment of the letter(s) and/or evals turned in to create a model for allocating our limited annual aid funds to award our student applicants. 
    • If there are extenuating circumstances impacting household income status that otherwise would not be reflected in the application materials, please let us know by uploading a simple explanatory statement to the CampDoc system using one of the extra document upload spaces near the end of the application forms. 

 

Middle School Camps scholarships

  • You can register using the  online system. This includes a scholarship application portion.  You will need to pay the refundable 10% application deposit at the beginning. 
    • To do this, you will need to set up an account with CampDocs. Once this is done, you’ll be able to log back in as you complete the application process. 
  • Include a one page (2-3 paragraph) letter of interest written by the student.This letter should be uploaded to your online application on  CampDoc . 
    • You can find suggestions for writing your letter of interest  here .
  • Letter of recommendation from the non-family member for the student applicant.
    • This can be sent to us at SternbergCamps@FHSU.edu. We will upload it to your CampDoc profile once recieved. You can also upload it your profile yourself, using the document upload portion of the Health Profile. Either approach is fine, so long as the letter is uploaded on time. 
    • You can find instructions for recommendation letter-writers  here.
    • Most* returning students in good standing* do not need to submit a recommendation letter.
      • *Students must have participated within the previous two summers. Students returning after after two or more summers will need to submit a recommendation letter. 
      • *Standing is determined by staff. A student not in good standing will be expressly notified by the Camps Director.
  • Award amounts are based on a few main factors. We seldom award scholarships for more than 50% of a camp application cost. For applicants with exceptional financial need and very strong cover and rec letters, we may provide scholarships of 80%-100%. Typically we only award between two and four scholarships of this level a year. We do not make award decisions until after the final April 10 application deadline as we assess all scholarship applicants together. Asking for a decision on award amout early is possible, but will result in a very conservative award decision. (We recommend, if possible, waiting until mid April for the regular award period.)
    • Students applying for scholarship assistance should take their own cover letter very seriously as we weigh them heavily in how we determine scholarship awards. These as always must be written by the student. Help from adults on edits is fine, but they should not be writing the letter for the student. Generative AI tools should also not be used beyond automated spelling and grammar-checkers. 
    • First time applicants should make sure to carefully consider who they ask for a rec letter. We will only consider one rec letter, even if you have multiple turned in. Turning in multiple letters is also an indicator of not following the application directions, which would count against the applicant. Remember, more doesn't mean automatic extra credit. 
    • Returning applicants do not have to turn in a recommendation letter (unless requested due to behavioral issues from a prior camp). We will however consider the simple student evaluations staff do each year of their campers. These evals focus on the student's level of engagement in the program's content, and contibutions to the group community during their time at camp. These evals function in place of the external recommendation letter for returning campers. 
    • Level of financial need is determined with a dropdown selection of an annual household income bracket. We combine this figure with assessment of the letter(s) and/or evals turned in to create a model for allocating our limited annual aid funds to award our student applicants. 
    • If there are extenuating circumstances impacting household income status that otherwise would not be reflected in the application materials, please let us know by uploading a simple explanatory statement to the CampDoc system using one of the extra document upload spaces near the end of the application forms. 

 

Elementary School Camps scholarships

  • You can register using the  online system.  This includes a scholarship application portion.
    • To do this, you will need to set up an account with CampDocs. Once this is done, you’ll be able to log back in as you complete the application process. 
  • Include a one paragraph (3-4 sentences) letter of interest written by the student. This letter should be uploaded to your online application on  CampDoc.