Texas Mayflower Scholarship 2026

First Place:  $6,000

Second Place:  $4,000

Third Place: $2,000

 

Meeting the Challenge Scholarship - $1000

(separate essay required)

An optional scholarship to be awarded to students who overcame an extraordinary hardship as explained in the essay.

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Scholarships may be used to enroll in higher learning including two-year or four-year college, vocational, business, or technical schools.

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Please note there are 2 scholarship opportunities this year.   You may apply for one or both scholarships.

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Criteria For Texas Mayflower Scholarships 2026

$6,000, $4,000 or $2,000

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To be eligible to apply for a Mayflower scholarship, the following criteria must be met:

All Mayflower scholarships shall be awarded for use in an academic degree-granting program in a college or university accredited by a nationally or regionally recognized accrediting agency and for comparable academic institutions outside the United States.

To be considered for a Texas Mayflower scholarship, all applicants must submit the following documents:

1. Transcripts from the applicant’s current or most recently attended high school.  Transcripts that have been downloaded or printed and scanned directly from the applicant’s high school, (screenshots are acceptable). 

2. Application form.  You, your parent or grandparent must have a Texas member number  at the time of the application to be considered.  If you need help finding the number, please email me at cbamben@hotmail.com.

3. One page resume.  Tell us how you are special and deserve this opportunity.

4. Character reference form (may have an optional letter as well) written by someone that is not in your family.

5. Academic form and reference letter written by someone that is not a family member like a teacher, principal, or guidance counsellor. 

6. Short Essay

 

Essay topic :

This  country is celebrating its 250th birthday this year. In your Mayflower lineage, you will have someone that was alive during these events.  If you can, write about this ancestor and the characteristics he or she had.  Did our Mayflower pilgrims also have these traits, and do you?

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1,000 – 1200 words

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Criteria for the Meeting the Challenge Scholarship 2026

$1,000

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1-5 above the same

6.Short essay

 

Essay topic is

Thinking about your ancestor, the hardships, and life in the Plymouth colony, how is the story of the Mayflower still relevant to you today? Like our ancestors, what hardships have you overcome?

 

1,000-1,200 words

 

Citations/Bibliography: 

DOCUMENTATION For all essays we require a Bibliography of sources you have found useful in preparing your essay. If your essay is entirely in your own words and based on your own thoughts, this Bibliography is sufficient documentation. 

You are likely to find information or ideas from external sources which you wish to include in your essay. You also may find one or more short portions of text which are especially appropriate to include exactly as written. If you include in your essay information, ideas or text taken from external sources, your Bibliography is NOT sufficient documentation. For ideas or information taken from an external source you must indicate the source of those ideas or that information. Direct quotations must also be placed in quotation marks with a clear identification including, where relevant, the page number of the source. Plagiarism—the inclusion in your essay of ideas, information or text taken directly from another source without giving explicit credit to that source--will result in automatic disqualification. 

https://www.easybib.com/guides/citation-guides/apa-format/how-to-cite-a-parenthetical-citations-apa/ provides basic information about proper documentation of sources. Make certain that your Bibliography includes all sources cited in the essay. For more details we suggest you contact your English teacher. 

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Awards will be presented on March 28th at The Society of Mayflower Descendents 2026 Annual Texas State Meeting

Austin Marriott North

2600 La Fontera Blvd

Round Rock TX 78681

Good luck to all graduating seniors.

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Application Guidelines for  Scholarships

The deadline for receipt of applications with all supporting materials for each scholarship is March 1st.  The packet must be at the address below on or before March 1st to be considered and all documents must be in the packet.  The address is:

Cathy Bambenek

Texas Scholarship Chairwoman

2505 Heather Hill Lane

Plano, Texas 75075

Only complete applications with all required supporting materials that are received by March 1st will be considered by the Scholarship Application Evaluation Committee.

Here is your checklist:

_____Transcript

_____Essay: you may have 2 if applying for both scholarships

_____Resume

_____Application with Texas member number is mandatory

_____Character Reference Form and optional letter

_____Academic Reference Form/mandatory letter of recommendation

We wish you the best of luck!

If applying for a colony scholarship, please click on the appropriate link…. like DFW, Houston, etc.