Illinois State Organization
National Society Daughters of the American Revolution
Pamela Petersen Bork, State Regent
DAR Scholarship Committee
Susan Snow, Chairman
P. O. Box 440 Palos Park, IL 60464 708-751-5154 snow.susan10@gmail.com
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2014 Packet Letter
Illinois Chapters! Become an active link between our Society and students in need of
scholarship funds. This letter begins the process. First, make information available to college
bound students in your community. Second, sponsor a deserving student who seeks one of
our own Illinois State DAR Scholarships. Third, contribute generously to the Illinois DAR
Scholarship Operating Fund. A donation can be accomplished with the standard remittance
form. This year, during DAR Days, an individual or a chapter can make a donation to the
Scholarship Friendship Quilt with a signature block. The finished quilt will be offered at State
Conference.
Each year, the Illinois State Organization awards seven “general” scholarships of
$1,000. The goal is to select a winning applicant from each of the seven Districts in the State.
If no qualified applicant is submitted from a given District, the scholarship intended for that
District will go to a deserving applicant from another District. These scholarships are awarded
based upon the following criteria: an academically qualified student who is a U.S. Citizen,
demonstrating financial need, among the other requirements, who will attend an Illinois
university or college. Forms needed: 2014 SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION, and the 2014
ILLINOIS STATE SCHOLARSHIP FINANCIAL NEED FORM. An eighth scholarship, the General
Henry Dearborn American History Scholarship, awards $1,000 to a single deserving applicant
in Illinois who will be majoring in American History at any college or university. Form needed:
2014 GENERAL HENRY DEARBORN AMERICAN HISTORY SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION and
2014 ILLINOIS STATE SCHOLARSHIP FINANCIAL NEED FORM. An application to renew either
one of these awards may be made. Forms needed: 2014 STATE RENEWAL APPLICATION and
2014 ILLINOIS STATE SCHOLARSHIP FINANCIAL NEED FORM. All of these forms will be
available on the Illinois State Organization’s website by the end of September 2014.
All Illinois DAR Scholarship applicants must be sponsored by an Illinois DAR
Chapter. The sponsorship is demonstrated in two ways: the Chapter Regent or Scholarship
Chairman fills out the relevant part of the application form to indicate sponsorship and
provides a separate letter to explain the reasons the applicant was chosen for sponsorship.
The contents of that letter are considered by the judges in making their selections. NEW in
2014: Each chapter is limited as to the number of applicants sponsored. No more than one
applicant for the General Henry Dearborn American History Scholarship may be sponsored. A
chapter may sponsor no more than one new applicant for the “general” scholarship. If the
chapter has previously sponsored a winning applicant who is applying for a renewal, the
chapter may consider sponsoring both the new and the renewal applicant, with the
understanding that those two applicants will be competing for the same award in State
judging.
Also NEW in 2014 is the two step process of application, designed to allow the chapter
the opportunity to consider all of its potential applicants before choosing the one(s) to sponsor.
The new application forms provide a date by which the student must submit their package
to the chapter: February 6th, 2015. The second step allows the chapter time to make its
selection and write the necessary sponsorship letter. The chapter then mails the entire
package to the State DAR Scholarship Chairman by a postmarked deadline of February 17th,
2015.
NEW in 2014 is a set of “Instructions for Illinois DAR Scholarship Applicants and
Illinois DAR Chapters. This is required reading for anyone involved in the application process.
A privately endowed scholarship is available to a student enrolled at the University of
Illinois, Champaign/Urbana campus. The applicant must have been an Illinois resident for 5
years. Preference is given to an applicant who is either DAR or SAR eligible. This scholarship
considers incoming freshmen through graduate school and is renewable. Further information
and forms are available from Lea Ann Gross, Executive Director of Development Services, at
the University of Illinois. Phone: 217-333-8668; email: gross@uif.uillinois.edu; 400 Harker Hall
MC-386, 1305 W. Green, Urbana, IL 61801. Refer to the David Hester Bloom and Mary Ellen
Bloom Scholarship.
Our National Society awards $150,000 in scholarships annually from 27 scholarship
endowments. Each endowment has specific requirements as to the student’s chosen
curriculum, institution of higher learning, or their personal background. Both the DAR public
and members’ websites have detailed information about these opportunities. The processing of
these scholarship applications does not require chapter sponsorship and does not involve the
State DAR Scholarship Chairman in anyway. NEW: These applications are mailed to the
individual named with each scholarship description on the website. The applications must be
postmarked no later than February 15th. Forms needed: DAR SCHOLARSHIP CHECKLIST
AND APPLICATION and DAR SCHOLARSHIP FINANCIAL NEED FORM which are found on the
national website: www.dar.org. We have prepared a Shorthand Summary of National DAR
Scholarships, including updates from the National Committee.
All of the DAR scholarship applications, State and National, are available on the public
DAR websites, as well as the members’ websites. All of the new forms for Illinois DAR
Scholarship applications will be available on the State website: www.ildar.org , along with the
Instructions sheet and the updated Shorthand Summary.