Home » Financial Assistance » Scholarships » Left Handed Scholarship
Left Handed Scholarship
While you may think that this is a bit of an odd or strange scholarship, Juniata College, located in Pennsylvania, actually offers a scholarship for a student that is left handed and that demonstrates above average academic ability and has also shown that they have leadership potential either within the school or outside in their community or in their job. Probably one of the most unusual scholarships in the United States, the Frederick and Mary F. Beckley Scholarship is an annual award of up to $1000 up to $1500 to a deserving left handed student. The scholarship is only open to left handed students and can only be used at Juanita College. The scholarship is a memorial to Mrs. Beckley who was herself a left handed Juanita College graduate. The scholarship has been awarded since 1979 with over 40 students having been approved for the scholarship.
Application for this scholarship, like any other financial aid, requires the completing of the application as well as the required submission of additional material. It is important to ensure all the application is correctly completed to avoid having your application denied or not even considered. Also there are deadlines for every scholarship and it is critical to get your application in prior to the deadline, don't leave things to the last minute.
Left handed students make up about ten to thirteen percent of the total population in any college or university. While left handed students are definitely not disabled in any way, there are some accommodations in schools that are more geared to right handed students. Since left handed students have difficulty working at lab stations, desks and even some computers that are set up for right handed users, there may be some additional scholarships or grants available for specialized equipment. Left handed students may also be eligible for general scholarships as would any other student. The Alliance for Young Artists and Writers offers several different artistic type scholarships that are based on samples of work as well as a demonstrated financial need to further your education. There are also literally thousands of scholarships available based on academic ability, athletic achievements, essay writing, public service or leadership skills as well as for those that have been in the military or involved with a particular professional association. A great site for general information about scholarships is CollegeScholarships.org.
Some of the special accommodations for left handed students that may be available without the need for a scholarship are a left handed standard keyboard. All the letters are still in the same place, however the keypad for fast data entry for numbers is on the left hand side. In addition some of the student seats in theatre style classrooms now have the flip up arm rest and writing surface on the left hand side which makes writing much less challenging.
Resources: