I think I won the scholarship due to how genuinely excited I was about the work I was doing. In my case, I had been a part of a youth philanthropy organization called SVP Teens since I was in middle school. The group was beginning to fizzle out, but I had a vision for what the program could become, so I got to work! The lesson that can be learned from this is that you don’t have to found a start-up or start your own charity for the sake of winning a scholarship; instead, look at the things you are already involved in to see where you can make a difference. Secondly, scholarship committees get tons of applications from students who have done it all: student council presidents, club executives, athletes, mathletes, you name it. The only way to stand out is to effectively communicate why what you do is important to you, how it has shaped you as a person, and how it has impacted your community (use numbers!). Prioritize the quality of your activities over the quantity, and don’t waste your (incredibly limited!) wordcount listing every activity you’ve ever participated in without tying meaning to them. Some really great advice that was given to me was “being Student Council President is awesome, but there are 2 of them at every high school across the entire country”. The takeaway from this is not that you shouldn’t be Student Council President, but that the work you do doesn’t have to come with a flashy title to be meaningful and make you stand out. If you are someone with an idea to do something you’re genuinely passionate about, stop waiting for permission to do it! Beyond the world of scholarships, there is nothing more rewarding than seeing your work have a tangible impact on the issues you care most about. If you can find something that gets you truly excited, your genuine passion for the work you’re doing will shine through in your writing and in an interview.