2024-2025 Catholic School Scholarship Award
The Catholic Business Network of Montgomery County (“CBN-MC”) is delighted to announce its 25th Annual Catholic School Scholarship Awards. We invite all eligible Montgomery County Catholic Schools to participate. The selection process is the same as last year. Please read the instructions carefully. The rules and procedures are set forth below. Each school's top essays MUST BE RECEIVED by February 03, 2025.
CBN-MC will award scholarships to SEVENTH grade students selected for the quality of their essays. The awards will be presented at The Scholarship Awards Breakfast, to be held in April of 2025. All winners, their parents, principals & pastors are invited as our guests at this event. The winners will have their scholarship checks sent directly to their schools to contribute towards their eighth grade year tuition.
Eligibility
To be eligible, students must be entering a Washington Area Catholic Middle School as an 8th grader in the Fall of 2025.
Rules
Schools must submit their top 3-5 essays by February 03, 2025. In order to be eligible the following rules must be followed:
- Each eligible school will receive the prompt in December. Each participating school will distribute the prompt to the eligible 7th graders. The schools may use this as an assignment, but ungraded and unedited essays should be submitted to CBN-MC. PARENTS AND STUDENTS WILL BE ASKED TO SIGN A CERTIFICATION WITH THEIR ESSAY THAT THIS IS THE STUDENT’S OWN WORK PRODUCT.
- The Essay must be no more than 500 words, typewritten using Times New Roman or Courier, minimum 12 point font, double spaced and must be the student’s own work. Essays produced in part or in whole using AI will be disqualified.
- The essay must be well-written and should be judged by the 7th grade teacher, or other school leader, on style and grammar, clarity of content, innovation and creativity, and conformity with the topic.
- Each school is responsible for selecting the top 3 to 5 essays for submission. These essays must be submitted electronically via the link provided below, between January 10 and February 3, 2025. The registration process must be completed by the school, and a confirmation email will be sent immediately upon receipt of an application.
- All essays submitted will become the property of CBN-MC. CBN-MC reserves the right to make all final decisions regarding eligibility. In the event for any reason the winners do not attend an area Catholic Middle School, the runners up in that category will receive the scholarship.
- Each participating CBN-MC member school must submit an online student registration and essay in a PDF format through the provided link under “Register for Event.” The link will be open from January 10, 2025, to February 3, 2025.
- Each electronic registration will require the student’s information and attachment of the essay. Additionally, the registration process will include a verification step to ensure that the essay is the student’s original work. The attached PDF file should be named using the following format: schoolname-studentlastname.pdf
- 2025 Electronic Essay Submission Link Here
- All entries must be submitted no later than February 3, 2025. Winners will be notified in March 2025. Checks will be made payable to the school, which will apply the scholarship towards the student's 8th-grade tuition. The checks will be hand-delivered at the scholarship breakfast in April 2025.
Essay Prompt
CBN-MC ESSAY PROMPT:
Note: All information contained herein was obtained from the following two sources:
BACKGROUND ON THE ESSAY PROMPT:
On May 9, 2024, while celebrating Ascension Thursday in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, the Holy Father Pope Francis declared the upcoming Jubilee Year 2025 to have the theme of hope, specifically using the Latin phrase Spes non confundit, which translates into “Hope does not disappoint.” As he proclaimed the Jubilee, Pope Francis said, “May hope fill our days!”
The Jubilee Year will begin with the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve, 2024, and will end on the Solemnity of Epiphany, January 6, 2026.
“In the course of the year,” Pope Francis writes in the Bull of Indiction dated May 9, 2024 (attached), “every effort should be made to enable the People of God to participate fully in its proclamation of hope in God’s grace and in the signs that attest to their efficacy…Everyone knows what it is to hope…In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future will bring.”
The Vatican News shared that, “In a special way, Pope Francis invited the the faithful of the Eastern Churches, especially those already in union with the Successor of Peter, to take part in the Jubilee, and to feel welcome in the city of Rome, noting how many are already ‘enduring their own way of the Cross,’ forced to leave their lands by violence and instability.”
Pope Francis spoke of the world’s desire and need for peace, given the increase in violence among nations, with the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East, causing so much death and destruction. He asked that “hope be offered to the sick, to the young and to the elderly—especially grandparents, to migrants and to the poor.” He stressed that the “fruits of the earth are intended for all,” and that “everyone should come to the assistance of the poor.”
Pope Francis concluded his proclamation with a prayer that “the coming Jubilee will be a Holy Year marked by the hope that does not fade, our hope in God”; and that this Jubilee Year of Hope will provide “the confident trust we require in the Church and in society, in our interpersonal relationships, in international relations, and in our task of promoting the dignity of all persons and respect for God’s gift of creation.”
Pope Francis closed with the announcement, “Let us even now be drawn to this hope,” calling on all Christians to “live a life in keeping with their faith, as a witness and an invitation to all to ‘hope in the Lord’.” “May the power of hope fill our days,” the Pope prayed, “as we await with confidence the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and glory, now and forever.”
THE WRITING PROMPT:
Consider what the call for a Jubilee Year of Hope by Pope Francis means for you. How can you follow the Holy Father’s example in praying for hope? Are your words and actions an example of your faith? Reflect on your words and actions, your thoughts on this coming Jubilee Year of Hope. The Holy Father has said that our actions are a message to the world of who we are and in what we believe.
Consider the following questions as you share in your essay how you can respond to the Holy Father’s proclamation of a Jubilee Year of Hope. In no more than 500 words, address the following:
- As young men and young women, how can you live a life in keeping with your faith, as a witness and invitation to all to “hope in the Lord?”
- With war and conflict, famine and floods, death and destruction, affecting much of the world, give an example of how you - a 7th grade Catholic school student - can bring hope to those around you, to those suffering in your community, to those in a more global way?
- How does your Catholic education influence your actions and your words in response to the Holy Father’s call for hope?
- What does Pope Francis’s announcement “Let us even now be drawn to this hope” mean to you personally?
Due Date:
Essays should lead with a cover sheet that has the name, school and contact information of the student, as indicated above. This information will not be shared with CBN-MC evaluators. All essays must be RECEIVED by CBN-MC, NO LATER THAN FEBRUARY 03, 2025
- 2025 Electronic Essay Submission Link available from 01/10/25- 02/03/25
Congrats to our 2024 winners!
CBN-MC 24th Annual Catholic School Scholarship Awards Ceremony
- Scholarships for Rising Eighth Grade Students: CBN-MC awarded scholarships to SEVENTH-grade students selected for the quality of their essays. Congratulations to our 18 Winners.
- Need-Based Scholarships: CBN-MC was proud to provide Need-Based Scholarships totaling $40,000. Congratulations to the 12 schools of the awardees for the need-based scholarships.
- School Project Grants: CBN-MC presented the School Project Grant totaling $17,000. Congratulations to the 17 schools benefiting from this grant.
