Students shaking hands in front of Gates Tower

President’s Scholarship for Community Building

President’s Scholarship recipients exhibit remarkable academic achievement in high school and are engaged citizens in their communities. This full-tuition scholarship recognizes future Grinnellians who demonstrate intercultural understanding, empathy, cooperation, community-building, and an interest in positive change-making. Recipients have the capacity to envision a more perfect world and the skills to enlist the help of others to realize their goals. The scholarship is renewable for eight total semesters of enrollment.

Start the process with a Preliminary Application! (2 minutes) (seasonal availability)

Your Contact

"Grinnell's core principles of academic excellence, diversity, and social responsibility appeal to students with similar values. My work as a recruiter allows me to connect with incredible students who have achieved success in the classroom and cocurricularly in service to others. It is gratifying to encourage their applications and a joy to support their service commitments with the President's Scholarship for Community Building. If you spend time balancing your commitments to excellence, then please reach out to me; I look forward to speaking with you and your champions." —Patty Amador-Lacson

Contact Patty

A group of students sitting on Mac field with Gates/Rawson tower in the background

Eligibility

U.S. citizen or permanent resident
Record of academic success in a rigorous college-prep curriculum
Demonstration of intercultural understanding, empathy, resilience, and interest in positive change-making
Demonstration of courage, determination, and/or leadership
Demonstration of a remarkable commitment to the well-being of their communities and/or schools

students walking on campus in front of Gates Tower

Applying

All eligible applicants for admission to Grinnell College will automatically be considered for the scholarship. There is no separate application required. Please note:

Those wishing to be considered for need-based financial aid, in addition to the President’s Scholarship for Community Building, should follow the application instructions outlined on the financial aid webpage.
Transfer applicants and QuestBridge Match students who "match" with Grinnell and are named QuestBridge National Match Scholars will not be eligible to receive the scholarship.

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Learn More

Email Patty about the President's Scholarship for Community Building.
Join Grinnell’s mailing list to learn even more.

Nominating students

Do you know a student who would be a good fit for this program?

Nominate your students here! (seasonal availability)

Nour Yousfi ’29

Clearwater, Florida

In high school, much of Nour's involvement came from her interests in improving upon environmental issues she noticed. She was the president of the environmental club, which helped replace invasive plants around the school with native species, she grew an extensive balcony garden of mostly edible plants which she gave to neighbors — sharing the literal fruits of her labor and learning about rearing many different species in the process, and she is developing an app to help solve the problem of trash pollution in Algeria she noticed while she lived there.

In Grinnell, Nour has volunteered with the Mayflower Community and will start working with them as a CNA. On campus, she has been elected as a second-year senator for student government and started a campaign to install bidets around campus. She also wants to take her interest in plants and get involved with the College garden — possibly adding hydroponics around campus — and continuing to increase access to edible plants and healthy foods.

Ezequiel Molina ’29

Dallas, Texas

While in high school, Ezequiel learned how important making and maintaining connections are, and he used the connections he built to grow projects that improve equity. He volunteered with his elementary and middle schools through a program called “Saturday School” to help students prepare for Texas standardized tests. He also spent a lot of time and energy with a program at his high school that seeks to connect the majority Hispanic student population to internships with American Airlines and IBM. He was able to expand the program so it was more visible to underclassmen and available to more students, and is still helping to do event planning for the program while here at Grinnell.

At Grinnell Ezequiel has found community on campus through the computer science table and plans to join the Grinnell chapter of Girls Who Code — a group of students, supported by the CLS who teach middle schoolers skills in coding and robotics.

I chose Grinnell for its student focus and all the opportunities for students to follow their passions, and getting this scholarship really felt like Grinnell was choosing me back.

— Lily Lockwood-Keil '29 (Portland, Oregon)