200 Club of Atlantic & Cape May Counties

200 Club of Atlantic and Cape May Counties Annual Scholarship Program

As you know, the 200 Club of Atlantic and Cape May Counties is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing financial support for the families of police, fire and rescue personnel who have risked and lost their lives in the protection of our communities.

Each year, the Board of Directors of the 200 Club of Atlantic and Cape May Counties performs an assessment of its financial health and it budgets some of its financial resources to be distributed in the form of scholarships, which will change from time-to-time. The amount of each scholarship and the number of scholarships, that are awarded each year, is solely at the discretion of the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors also selects the Scholarship Committee chairperson, the Scholarship Committee members and it establishes the guidelines under which the Scholarship Committee operates.

It is the mandate of the Scholarship Committee to fulfill the directives of the Board of Directors. These directives include, but are not limited to:
1. The number of scholarships to issue for each County
2. The dollar amount of the scholarships
3. The method, payee and timing of disbursement
4. The criteria to utilize when selecting the applicants chosen to receive the scholarships

Who Can Qualify for a Scholarship?

To qualify for scholarship consideration, the applicant must be either a graduating high school student who intends to attend an accredited junior college, college or university for the school year 2012-2103 or a student currently attending an accredited junior college, college or university and intends to continue his/her education for the school year 2012-2103 at that school or another accredited junior college, college or university.

In addition to the above qualification, to be eligible for consideration of a scholarship, the applicant must qualify for both eligibility requirement #1 and eligibility requirement #2 below or just eligibility requirement #3 alone:

1. You must be a child (including natural, foster child, legally-adopted or step-child) of a currently-active, currently-disabled or deceased parent who worked in one of the following local, county, or NJ State groups:
a. Law Enforcement (including local police, NJ State Police, Prosecutor’s Office, Sheriff’s Office), or
b. Fire Fighters, or
c. Emergency Medical Services.

2. Your parent (natural, foster parent, adoptive parent or step-parent) must be:
a. Currently active within Atlantic or Cape May Counties, or
b. Currently stationed full-time within Atlantic or Cape May Counties, or
c. Currently assigned to work full-time within Atlantic or Cape May Counties, or
d. Currently disabled while they were working, stationed or assigned within Atlantic or Cape May Counties, or
e. Deceased while he/she was working, stationed or assigned within Atlantic or Cape May Counties.

3. Applicants may qualify on his/her own merit, if the applicant is an accredited member of an ambulance squad auxiliary, fire company auxiliary or police auxiliary stationed in Atlantic County or Cape May County and the applicant graduating from high school or is continuing his/her college education at an accredited junior college, college or university.

How to Apply for a Scholarship

The following are the steps that you should follow to acquire a 200 Club of Atlantic and Cape May Counties scholarship application form:

The Scholarship Application Form:
1. On this website, there is a hyperlink to Scholarship Application Form.
2. Click on that hyperlink and download the scholarship application form and print it on your home printer
3. Complete all of the requested items in the blanks provided on the official application form in your own handwriting or you may type onto the official form, which is in Microsoft Word format.

The Scholarship Applicant Recommendation Form:
1. On this website, there is a hyperlink to Scholarship Applicant Recommendation Form.
2. Click on that hyperlink and download the scholarship applicant recommendation form and print it on your home printer.
3. You may have up to 4 recommendations mailed to us. These recommendations must be on our forms and the recommender must complete all of the requested items in the blanks provided on the official form in his/her own handwriting or he/she may type onto the official form, which is in Microsoft Word format
4. The recommender must mail the recommendations themselves. Do not include any recommendations with your application.
5. These recommendation forms are strictly optional. If you do not have anyone submit a recommendation, you will not be penalized. The recommendation forms just help us to evaluate you in personal terms in addition to the documentation that we request.

Other Information:
1. Neatness counts. Please make sure that all items are completed clearly
2. Incomplete applications in our possession by the end of business on the deadline date will not be considered
3. It is the applicant’s responsibility to assure that we have received the complete scholarship application. We will not be responsible for undelivered, incomplete, improperly-addressed or lost applications
4. Always keep a copy of your application at your home just in case it gets lost in the mail and we request a duplicate application.

Application Deadlines

All completed applications and optional recommendations must be in our PO Box by not earlier than February 1, 2012 and not later than at the end of business on March 1, 2012.

The Scholarship Committee award decisions will be communicated in writing to all applicants during the week of March 14, 2012. The selected applicants’ names will be posted on this website after March 18, 2012.

We will be pleased to attend your school’s award ceremonies to present your scholarship award in person. You will be invited to our Annual Valor Awards Ceremony or another 200 Club of Atlantic and Cape May Counties public event to be recognized for your award.

If you are selected to become a scholarship recipient, you will also be invited to attend our 27th Annual Cape/Atlantic Memorial Service and Brunch, honoring Police, Fire, and Rescue personnel killed in the line of duty, which will be held at The Borgata Hotel and Casino on April 8, 2012. We will provide you a free ticket for yourself plus two additional free tickets for guests of your choice who will accompany you to the Brunch. You are welcome to purchase additional tickets, at your own expense, from our website under "Events, Past and Future".

At that breakfast, you will also be honored and awarded your scholarship papers by the Scholarship Chairperson of the 200 Club. It is not mandatory that you attend the Brunch to receive your scholarship.

Always keep a copy of your application at your home just in case it gets lost in the mail and we request a duplicate application.

Contact the Scholarship Committee

You may contact the 200 Club of Atlantic and Cape May Counties Scholarship Committee by email at: Scholarship200ClubACM@gmail.com.

You should receive a response within 24 hours of your emailed request.

Please send also send a "cc" to the Executive Board of the 200 Club of Atlantic and Cape May Counties at fsr1984@comcast.net so that if there is any delay in addressing your inquiry, there will be others in this organization who are not a part of the Scholarship Committee that know of your attempt to communicate with the Scholarship Committee.

Please submit all applications only to our PO Box – not via email.

Applications Received

The following "screen names" have submitted their applications:

Screen Name	Date Received	Status ("Complete" or list of missing items)
x	x	x
x	x	x
x	x	x
x	x	x
x	x	x
x	x	x
x	x	x
x	x	x
x	x	x

2012 Scholarships Awarded

Scholar Name	County	High School Graduated	College Attending
x	x	x
x	x	x
x	x	x
x	x	x
x	x	x
x	x	x
x	x	x
x	x	x
x	x	x

FAQs

Q. Are scholarships awarded to students that wish to attend only a four-year college or university?
A. No. We will award scholarships to community colleges and two-year colleges that are recognized places of higher education.

Q. Why does my application ask for a "screen name"?
A. We feel that your scholarship application request is not for public edification. We want to respect your dignity and we believe that this information is confidential. If you are selected for a scholarship, we believe that this is something that you should be proud about and we would have no problem letting the public know your name at that time. We will post only the winners' names on our website at 2012 Scholarships Awarded. If you wish to keep your award confidential, we will respect that wish.

Q. How will I know that my application is received and that it is complete?
A. A few days after you mail us your application, return to our website and select the link to Applicant Names Received. If you do not see your screen name on the website after a full week, please email us ASAP so that we can try to discover why it was not received. We may ask you for another copy of your application if this happens.

Q. How many years is the scholarship for?
A. The scholarship is for one year only. You may apply for another scholarship next year.

Q. I am in my 2nd (3rd, 4th) year of college/university/trade school. Can I still apply for a scholarship?
A. Yes. Scholarships are awarded regardless of their year in a school of higher education.

Q. My parents are divorced and I do not live in Atlantic County or Cape May County but my parent belongs to one of the qualifying groups, do I still qualify for scholarship consideration?
A. Yes. Your residency does not disqualify you. If your parent meets the criteria, you qualify to apply.

Q. I applied for a scholarship in prior years and I was not selected, can I reapply this year?
A. Yes, you may apply every year regardless if you were awarded a scholarship or not in prior years.

Q. My grades were not good. Do I still have a chance to get a scholarship?
A. Yes. Your grades are only one of the criteria that we use. The others are: SAT/ACT testing scores, your community service, your civic involvement, your personal character, financial need, and the length of service of your parent in one of the qualifying groups.

If you do not see your question here, email us at
Scholarship200ClubACM@gmail.com.


• Scholarship Application Form	PDF	WORD

• Scholarship Applicant Recommendation Form	PDF	WORD