About Our Scholarship

Cheshire's Lights of Hope Scholarship aims to encourage the next generation of volunteers to serve their community to continue spreading the message of hope and encouragement amongst neighbors.

The Application form with qualifications and directions to apply for the 2025 Cheshire’s Lights of Hope $3,000 Scholarship is available on this webpage below. Completed applications with all required documentation and signatures must be submitted by or postmarked by March 13, 2025.

SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS

Our scholarship has been awarded each year to deserving candidates since 2009.  To learn more about the current and past years' winners and their commitment to volunteerism scroll down and select by year.

Congrats to our 2024 candidate who was awarded a $3,000 scholarship. 

QUALIFICATIONS

This year's scholarship will be awarded to one Cheshire resident who is a Senior in high school and best exemplifies the mission and vision of Cheshire’s Lights of Hope through volunteerism and community service.  IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO HAVE PARTICIPATED IN THE CHESHIRE’S LIGHTS OF HOPE LUMINARY EVENT TO APPLY FOR THIS SCHOLARSHIP.

Cheshire’s Lights of Hope was established in 2005 by Don and Jenifer Walsh to unite our community, to light up our town and create a brighter world.  Through acts of kindness and generosity, we encourage good citizenship and promote volunteerism while embracing and supporting local charities.  Over $1,250,000 has been raised in 18 years with the help of hundreds of volunteers to support many local charities including the Cheshire Community Food Pantry, Cheshire Youth and Social Services, the Petit Family Foundation and numerous others, examples of our beliefs in "Neighbors Helping Neighbors". While the luminary event came to a close in 2022, the Board of Directors for Cheshire’s Lights of Hope has pledged to continue to offer one $3,000 scholarship while possible into the foreseeable future.

The Lights of Hope Scholarship Committee will specifically look at the amount and type of community service and volunteer work the candidate has done, with greater emphasis on community service performed within the town of Cheshire as well as the number of years he/she participated in volunteer events. The impact this volunteer work has had on the Cheshire community will be given high consideration. The candidate should have maintained above average grades (2.5 GPA minimum) although all candidates with exceptional service records to the community are encouraged to apply. The recommendations, personal essay and resume will also be strongly considered by the Committee in its selection of worthy recipients.

FUNDS DISTRIBUTION

One $3,000 scholarship will be awarded to one graduate in full time attendance at an accredited college.  This scholarship will be awarded directly to winner's college, half ($1,500) by August 15 and the remaining half ($1,500) upon our receipt of legible proof of the successful completion of the first semester of your college studies.

HOW TO APPLY

The Cheshire's Lights of Hope 2025 Scholarship application is available for download below which has all the qualification details and dates that must be adhered to.

Once the PDF is completed you can upload and submit it to the team using the online submission for below.

CLOH Scholarship Application (.pdf *) 

Online Scholarship Submission Form

The Online Scholarship Application Submission form allows you to submit your application after you have obtained a copy of the Scholarship Application, downloaded it to your local computer, completed and saved, and then uploaded as an attached file (i.e. pdf, doc, docx, etc.) along with supporting documents.  Fields with * are required. Your application must be submitted in full (with all required documents) by March 8, 2024.

Please allow up to 3 days for our Scholarship Committee to respond.