Scholarship

The Zonta Club of Yakima Valley awards two scholarships each year. The Young Women in Public Affairs Scholarship is awarded each spring to a senior girl from one of the Yakima Valley high schools. We have been awarding this scholarship since 1997. The Jane M. Klausman Women in Business Scholarship is awarded to a woman who will enter her junior or senior year studying business in a college or university. This is a new scholarship, awarded first in 2008.

Recepients are honored at our annual Scholarship Luncheon, which is held in June. For information on the 2009 luncheon, download the flyer.

Young Women in Public Affairs

In January each year, Zonta Club of Yakima Valley begins accepting applications for the local Zonta scholarship, through the Young Women in Public Affairs program. This scholarship of $2,000 is given to one outstanding senior girl from one of the Yakima Valley high schools each spring. The money may be applied to studies at any four year college.

Applicants are asked to write answers to five questions:

1. Student Activities
   Describe your student activities and the leadership role you play in them. Please include what you find most rewarding or valuable about your participation in these activities.
2. Community Service Activities
   Describe the activities that you participate in, that benefit your community. Why did you select these activities?
3. International Awareness
   Describe the activities that you participate in and the ways that you seek to understand other countries, with their different customs and ways of life!
4. Status of Women in the USA
   a) What do you see as the most important problem(s) (no more than 2) limiting the advancement of the status of women.
   b) What do you think could be done about it?
   c) If you had the power to make one change to help women achieve better equality, what would that change be?
5. Status of Women Worldwide
   a) What do you see as the most important problem(s) (no more than 2) limiting the status of women worldwide?
   b) What do you think could be done about it? Include your opinion about the role of international organizations like the UN, with the help of the NGOs worldwide, and/or the input of each individual woman.

The Zonta Scholarship Committee sends letters to the counseling office of each local high school, encouraging them to get the word out to the seniors. Applicants are screened by a committee of Zonta members who are provided with specific criteria to assist in the consistent evaluations of the responses to the written questions. The winner and her immediate family are invited to attend our Scholarship Luncheon which is held each year in June.

The recipient of the Yakima Valley Zonta Club Scholarship is also entered in a competition for the District 8 scholarship which is for $500.

Download the Scholarship Application [ MS Word version 1.50 MB] [ PDF version 189 KB]

Deadline for submission of the application is March 1st.

Status of Women Scholarship Recipients

The following young women from Yakima Valley high schools received the Zonta Status of Women in Public Affairs scholarship in recent years:

Jane M. Klausman Women in Business Scholarship

The Jane M. Klausman Women in Business Scholarship helps women pursuing undergraduate degrees in business management overcome gender barriers, from the classroom to the boardroom. Since 1998, Zonta Women in Business Scholarships have helped women find their place in the business world. In 2008, the Zonta Club of Yakima Valley instituted a local scholarship for the first time.

Application Deadline  May 31, 2009

Scholarship   $2,000 to be awarded from the Zonta Club of Yakima Valley. The successful application will be sent on to the district and international levels to compete for one of twelve $5,000 scholarships awarded internationally. For more information on the international level award, please visit the Zonta International website.

Eligibility    Women of any nationality pursuing undergraduate business degrees who demonstrate outstanding potential in the field. Applicants must be entering their third or fourth year of an undergraduate degree program at an accredited university/ college/institute program by October 2009. Preference may be given to a woman from Central Washington or those studying in a Washington State university or college.

Award Criteria

• Achieved an outstanding academic record during the first two-three years of academic studies.
• Demonstrated intent to complete a program in business and show outstanding achievement in business-related subjects, as recorded on the official university/college/institute transcript.
• Demonstrated initiative, ambition, and commitment to pursing a career in business.

To Apply
Applications can downloaded here, or be obtained by mailing a request to: Klausman Scholarship, PO Box 234, Yakima, WA 98907-0234 or emailing your request to Jheri at ketch5am@aol.com. Please contact Jheri for any questions you may have regarding this scholarship.