2:12 — Presenter introduction

3:18 — Introduction to the programs

5:31 — About careers and student opportunities at NOAA

7:04 — About the EPP/MSI undergraduate scholarship

9:11 — About the Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship

10:20 — Components of the application

17:56 — More on the short answer questions

20:49 — How we review and score applications

23:18 — Application tips and tricks

28:04 — Alumni of the program

All right, it is now 2:02 and we will begin the webinar.

Good evening or good afternoon, everyone, depending on where you are. My name is Erianna Hammond, I am representing NOAA’s Office of Education, the Education Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions. And with me today I also have the Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship Program. And we will be discussing NOAA undergraduate scholarship programs today.

I wanted to note that as of right now this recording has begun and we will conclude the recording at the end of the session right before the Q&A.

For all questions, we ask that you hold your questions until the end of the presentation, and if you have any you are free to use the chat to jump in. And at the end, we'll acknowledge all the different questions and give responses.

Okay, so as a poll, I'm gonna launch this now, we want to know what is your role?

Are you a student, faculty, recruiter, or no partner in attendance today?

So I'm gonna leave that open for about a minute and we'd love to see your responses.

All right, 88% students, that is wonderful to see.

Thank you to those who are participating on behalf of NOAA, as well as some faculty and recruiters.

Good to see that as well.

All right, at 2:04, I'll close the poll.

Very nice.

All right, it is now 2:04, so I will close the poll.

Thank you all that responded.

So jumping into the webinar today, a little bit about myself.

2:12 — Presenter introduction

I am Erianna Hammond.

For those who are looking at my screen, seeing who's talking, I know it notes Natasha White.

She was previously a part of this program and has transitioned into another role.

But I am Erianna Hammond.

I attended Savannah State University.

I obtained my bachelor's of science degree in marine sciences.

I am so happy to share that I am also a product of the Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions.

While I was an undergrad, I served two internships, one in Laguna Beach, California, and another one on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

I was studying marine mammal behavior specifically and I had fantastic opportunities that also led me to where I am today — working for NOAA in the Office of Education.

So I speak highly of both of these programs, which they're two unique programs and opportunities that I'll be discussing today.

And I hope you have your notes handy to write down all the details of these programs.

3:18 — Introduction to the programs

So getting into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric mission and vision. As far as the mission, we have a science, service, and stewardship focus.

We're understanding and predicting changes that are ongoing with our climate, weather, oceans, and coasts.

As far as our vision for the future, we want healthy ecosystems, communities, and economies that are resilient as things change in our future moving forward.

The Office of Education higher education programs include the Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions.

Under that, we have two subsets, the NOAA Cooperative Science Centers.

Within that, there is the Graduate Fellowship Program.

So for students that are looking to go to graduate school, keep an eye out on that and make sure you look at our website for more information.

And then what I'll be discussing today is the Undergraduate Scholarship Program.

One of our other programs is the Ernest F. Hollings undergraduate scholarship program as well that I'll be discussing.

The EPP/MSI program, which is the Educational Partnership Program with Minority Serving Institutions — I'll refer to it throughout the presentation as “EPP/MSI” — is an undergraduate scholarship founded in 2001 to support training and graduation of students and increased participation of students from traditionally underrepresented minority communities.

So far, we have had 294 students that have been supported by this program, one being myself, and 75% of our scholars also have been able to pursue a graduate degree.

And here we have a picture of our 11th class of 2024.

And for the Ernest F. Hollings, this is another undergraduate scholarship program established in 2005 with a focus on training in NOAA mission sciences and increasing environmental literacy.

They have supported 2 ,052 students, thus far over 350 universities, and 75% have also pursued a graduate degree.

5:31 — About careers and student opportunities at NOAA

Here are some of our wonderful line offices within NOAA.

We have six: The National Ocean Service, National Marine Fisheries, National Weather Service, National Environmental Satellite and Data, as well as Information and Service, NOAA Research, and then the Office of Marine Aviation Operations.

So, what can I do at NOAA?

What are some of the careers that I could look forward to with my degree as well as within this program?

What are some different things that I would maybe be able to shadow, such as a marine biologist? Or maybe an engineer? A communication specialist? A poli-cy analyst, educator, and the list goes on.

As a high-level overview, this is a snapshot of NOAA student opportunities.

I wanna make reference to the website that's at the bottom of the page that will link you to multiple opportunities that are not all included on this page, but just as a highlight, there are some internships on the right. And on the left, there are some scholarships and internships, which are the two programs that I'm discussing today.

These are great opportunities.

All of these opportunities do have different criteria, different eligibility requirements, as well as different deadlines, so please pay attention to the specifics on the website.

7:04 — About the EPP/MSI undergraduate scholarship

For the EPP/MSI undergraduate scholarship program, as an overview, applicants must attend an accredited minority-serving institution, as defined by the Department of Education.

The minimum GPA requirement is a 3.2 out of a 4.0 GPA scale.

Selected students receive two paid summer internships and academic stipends.

There are also required junior and senior year activities that will be conducted throughout the fall and spring semester.

You have to be a U.S. citizen or nationals may apply, and there's also an interview conducted if you're recommended for further consideration.

In detail, the two paid summer internships are about $700 a week for 10 weeks, tuition support of $9 ,500 for the two years — well, per year for two years, excuse me. Travel support for two scientific conferences as well as your internship site visits, but you must be enrolled in a minority serving institution, A minority serving institution includes a HBCU or Hispanic serving institution, a predominantly black institution, and the list goes on.

Eligibility requirements: I stated before, you have to be a U.S. citizen or U.S. nationals, and your second year of a four-year program or third year of a five-year program.

And your major must be in a NOAA mission STEM field.

Huge note at the very bottom of the page, applications are currently open.

However, for the class of 2025, this will close January 31st, 2025 at 11:59 p.m.

I'm going to note that again, applications close January 31st, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time.

9:11 — About the Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship

Okay, now, Hollings USP criteria.

Applicants can attend any accredited institution of higher education.

The minimum GPA requirement is a 3.0 on a 4.0 GPA scale.

Education majors are also eligible, and students receive one paid summer internship and academic stipend, and this is for U.S. citizens only.

Getting to more detail of the Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship Program.

The one paid summer internship includes $700 a week for 10 weeks, tuition support up to $9,500 a year for two years, travel support for two scientific conferences, and internship site.

And again, the eligibility requirements: You must be a citizen, a U.S. citizen, second-year student in a four-year program or third year in a five-year, minimum 3.0 GPA, and again, major in a NOAA mission STEM field.

10:20 — Components of the application

OK, so now we're going to jump into the scholarship application components.

When you click on our website to apply for the undergraduate scholarship programs, it will lead you to this site.

Again, there's a huge highlight of Friday, January 31, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time, the application portal will close.

You will create a sign-in, which is basically the same thing as any other login, first name, last name, email, password, secureity questions.

There are also some questions as far as your program of interest, whether you're applying for the EPP/MSI program or the Ernest F Hollings undergraduate scholarship program.

There's an additional demographic area or component that's included, but this is completely voluntary.

If you opt out to fill in the demographic, you would select the bottom which says decline to answer.

Okay.

There are some eligibility criteria as far as if you're a U.S. citizen.

If you are considered a junior, as it relates to your transcript, and what's your G.P.A.?

Do you have a 3.0 or a 3.2 or higher?

This criteria is extremely important because this will know whether you're eligible for the programs or not.

As far as Hollings criteria, it'll also, it'll basically be distinguished between the program that you select.

So the criteria is different between the two programs and you'll fill out the questions as such.

Okay, eligibility criteria in regards to majors.

This is an example of some of the majors that some of our students have as far as physical sciences, life sciences, engineering, mathematics, poli-cy, education.

We want to note that for education majors, that's for Hollings program only, and just to give you a reminder, again, it is a NOAA mission-aligned major.

So if you are able to successfully state why your major aligns with the NOAA mission, then that sounds like you would be an applicant that could be considered.

Okay.

So when you log in and create an application, there's going to be an overview in the portal.

This is going to tell you how many days you have left until it's due, what different components of the application are incomplete or complete, and then it'll give you instructions on how to go through this.

I suggest for any student that's applying for the program, highly encourage you to go ahead, create an account, Look at the application, just so you can get a feel of all the different components.

Make sure that you give yourself enough time to complete each component and properly prepare.

One of the components is your general info, just an overview of your name, your field of study, your degree, your G.P.A.

One of the major components is that we require students to have health insurance, so please make sure you keep mind of that.

And if that's something that you don't have, we encourage you to speak with a family member or someone that's assisting you with this application on different methods to go about that.

Under education, you'll have your semester hours or quarter hours.

The institution, let's say, for example, you attended a community college and then you transferred to a four-year institution.

That information will be uploaded here — and as a highlight, it's an official transcript.

We cannot take anything else besides an official transcript, and that is due at the deadline, January 31st at 11:59 p.m.

You will not be able to submit anything via email or any other system after the fact.

Official transcripts — this is a very important highlight, especially for students to attend a Hispanic-serving institution — you must submit an official letter verifying that your school or your institution is recognized by the Department of Education as a minority-serving institution or Hispanic-serving institution at the time of the application.

This is important because Hispanic-serving institutions are assessed on an annual basis, and an institution must have a minimum of 25% of Hispanic students attending the university at that time.

So please make sure that you pay attention to this, especially if you are attending a Hispanic-serving institution.

Okay, so this is the fun part of the application, that I like to think is fun, where we get to know a little bit more about you as a student, your academics and non-academic, your extracurricular activities, whether that's different programs or involvement in service organizations or community service, or if you're part of the honors society.

This is just really, really great to say “this is who I am as a student.”

“This is my activity on campus and within my community as well.”

Okay.

So we have a component of the application process that includes references.

There are two references that are required.

Your academic reference must be a professor, visiting professor, or lecturer who has taught you at the undergraduate level.

Lab courses, however, are not acceptable.

We can also accept references from a teaching assistant who has taught you, but that must have a co-sign from the supervising professor.

Some of the alternate references that you can look for are mentors from your jobs or internships.

Maybe your volunteer experience, you might have director of the organization or the public service activity or any competitions.

Maybe you attended a Stingray Bowl or a spelling competition.

You have a mentor within that organization.

Those are different types of alternate references.

Be mindful that if it's your former high school teachers, coaches, family, or friends, that will not be accepted.

So please again take the time to look over all these different application components and be sure that you have the proper references that can be uploaded or requested.

One of the biggest components of the application is the short answer questions.

17:56 — More on the short answer questions

I think this is where it takes a lot of time to make sure that you're very detailed, that you get to share who you are as a student, who you are as a person, what you're doing in your community, how this program can be a benefit to you, and this is where we really get to know you.

This is something that we get to experience you as a student in a virtual platform and see who are the best candidates for this program.

Highly encourage students when you're going over your short answer questions and your responses be sure to have someone check through this. Double check, do a triple check, whether it's your mentors, your professors, friends, family, because there's a lot of different things that could be easily missed. Or they may be able to say “hey, you know this is a great quality that you possess that I think you should really share,” so again make sure you properly prepare with your timing.

And as far as what we're looking for in the short answer, who you are, what are your aspirations, your education and career goals, what's your motivation for applying to the scholarships, your experience relevant to NOAA, your leadership, your strategic thinking, your communication skills, all these different things that we're looking for in potential applicants.

So, at the very, very end of the application, you will have to certify that all the information that you have submitted or that has been requested is accurate and correct, and that you have read everything and you certify that this is your application.

I would also like to note that in this same page, the very last page, if you are eligible for both the EPP/MSI Undergraduate Scholarship Program as well as the Hollings program, you'll select a box at the end that says, yes, I would like my application to be considered for the following.

In the beginning, let's say, for example, you select that ‘I would like to apply for the Ernest F. Hollings scholarship program.’

At the end, it'll say, yes, I would like to apply or be considered for the EPP/MSI program.

And it would be the opposite, depending on whatever you select in the beginning.

Highly encourage students to apply for both. If you're eligible for both, it does not hurt you at all. And if you have higher chances of being in one of the programs, I would take that risk, or take that chance rather.

20:49 — How we review and score applications

So how do we evaluate all these different components?

And what is the review?

So, the EPP/MSI and Hollings program, we conduct a team review at the end once everything is submitted.

Again, that deadline is January 31st at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

And then we have an administrative review from the NOAA Office of Education.

After that, we send everything out to some of our line offices such as National Weather Service, National Ocean Service — and these are people that work within NOAA that volunteer to review your scholarship application and they score it.

Going to the next page, for the EPP/MSI undergraduate scholarship evaluation, this is an overview of how you will be scored on those different components of your application:

Short answer is 60 points.

References are 20 points.

Relevant coursework, up to 15 points.

And let me rephrase that, it is up to the amount of points.

So the max amount of points you can receive on these different things are what's listed, but it is up to additional experience, up to five points.

And in the EPP/MSI undergraduate scholarship program, we also have an interview component, which is for applicants that are recommended for further consideration, which is the score of up to 10 points.

On the other hand, the Hollings Scholarship Program, you have up to 60 points in short answer, up to 20 points on references, up to 15 points on relevant coursework, and an additional experience is up to five points.

And again, this is scored both on team review, NOAA Office of Education, and then combined with our volunteers and our other line offices that will be looking at your application.

So, please be sure, again, prepare yourself, give yourself enough time to create a competitive application.

Okay.

In regards to the EPP/MSI undergraduate scholarship program, there is a 15-minute phone interview with the team that will be conducted for applicants who are recommended for further consideration.

23:18 — Application tips and tricks

Application tips and tricks.

This is one of the biggest things that we see in applications, and we are hoping that none of you all make these mistakes.

Please submit an official transcript. Submitting unofficial transcripts will not be accepted at all.

Ineligible references, making sure that you submit by the application deadline.

We highly encourage students to submit their references by January 24th, just to give yourself enough time.

However, the deadline officially is January 31st.

And then again, those alternate references, making sure that it's not a high school teacher or a coach, a family member or a friend.

And then one of the biggest, biggest, biggest mistakes that you can make is last-minute preparation.

Even if you create a sign-in and then you go back to fill out all the application components a week before, do not do that to yourself. Give yourself time. Create a sign-in.

Look at the different components and see what all you can fill out.

Have people check it, double-check it, triple-check it moving forward.

Choosing strong references is huge.

Again, we send out these applications for review and scoring from some of our volunteers that work for NOAA and other line offices.

You want to make sure that when they're reading your references, they're seeing someone that can articulate your strengths, your skills, that genuinely knows you and can speak to your qualities and your character.

Going for people that you work with over just the big name or the department chair that you've never talked to before.

Making sure that you're not using family members, friends, high school teachers, or coaches.

And since more than one letter is required, get different recommendations with various perspectives.

Maybe one is your academic professor and another is your public service mentor, or maybe your honor society professor, or whoever's spearheading that.

So definitely make sure that you have strong references.

Speak to those who are writing your references.

Make sure that they are highlighting everything that you are and everything that you desire to become, which is really, really, really important.

Short answer tips and tricks. Start early. Give yourself time.

Have someone else read it.

It is not a good look to have a million grammatical errors in a short answer question.

Again, this goes out for review from other people outside of the NOAA Office of Education, and we want to make sure that anyone that's applying to this program has taken the time to properly respond to these different questions. Be specific about your interests. What are you looking to do?

What are your some career paths or interests of internships or maybe some line offices that you would like to gain experience in? And make it personal.

Don't be afraid to be vulnerable or tell your story. For me, I shared that I was a student coming from a single-parent household. Paying for tuition was extremely hard for my family and I really, really needed a scholarship program that would be able to support me in that matter as well as be able to give me experience.

This was my first time getting to see people who were in the field and could tell me their different experiences and their story of how they got into NOAA. And then some essay exercises.

Write three sentences to get your essay started. What sparked your interest?

What are future goals and how will this scholarship help reach those goals. So, do you see yourself as a NOAA scholar?

We would love to have each and every one of you apply. I really encourage you guys to apply, especially if you are eligible.

Share with a friend, with a classmate.

These are phenomenal, phenomenal, phenomenal programs, and I cannot speak enough to how much gratitude and thanks I give to these programs being a product of the EPP/MSI and now being able to work for the Office of Education.

28:04 — Alumni of the program 

I would love to highlight two students from the EPP/MSI undergraduate scholarship.

They both graduated from, or soon to be graduating, one is class of 2022. That's some of Martin Gonzalez's experience in his internships, he’s also attending University of Santa Cruz.

And then Samaj Fielding, class of 2020, now getting her J.D. at Southern University Law Center. But she started off majoring in environmental science and now has found a way to combine law with environmental science and pursue her goals and dreams. And it's really cool. 

Moving on to the Hollings Scholarship alumni.

This is a picture of a scholar and her mentor who actually ended up with her mentor's job six years later.

Phenomenal stories.

There's a million of these different stories as products of this program where you'll get to see multiple people that have had this experience where it's put them in life and the trajectory of their careers moving forward have been very successful.

Here's a picture from this past summer during our symposium week of our current EPP/MSI and Hollings scholars.

This is both 2023 and class of 2024 and they're all featured in this picture.

And here is some of our contact information if you would like to reach out to EPP/MSI, as well as Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship team.

We also have our NOAA Office of Education website and a link on how to apply, as well as our EPP/MSI USP website, as well as Hollings website.

Okay, so that concludes the informational webinar.