Hi I’m Paige. Welcome to the salon. This is Mental Floss on YouTube and did you know
that if you attend Juniata College in Pennsylvania, you could get a scholarship for being left-handed?
The Beckley Scholarship gives between $1,000 and $1,500 to the left-handed student with
the best grades each year. According to a former director of student financial planning,
the school doesn’t even check whether applicants are left-handed. Very trusting.
And that’s the first of many weird scholarships I’m going to tell you about today!
The Society of Vacuum Coaters Foundation gives out a scholarship each year to “people entering
or already participating in a course of study related to vacuum coating technology at an
accredited institution.” Vacuum coating, by the way, is when a thin coating is distributed
onto something in a low-pressure vacuum.
You can apply for the Chick Evans Caddie Scholarship if you’ve been a golf caddie for two years
or longer.
The Gilbert Roller Fund provides up to $10,000 for a person with an interest in the parapsychological,
like séances or poltergeist activity.
Only graduate students are eligible for the National Potato Council Scholarship. It gives
out $10,000 annually to someone who’s “conducting research for the benefit of the potato industry.”
Does my quest for the best french fry count?
The website ScholarshipExperts.com runs some interesting essay contests for scholarships.
The Zombie Apocalypse Scholarship gives $2,000 to the person who writes the best plan to
survive a zombie apocalypse. And the Fifth Month Scholarship is for $1,500; and it’s
given to the person who writes the best essay about the number five.
At Carnegie Mellon, there's a $7,000 scholarship for a bagpipe student, which subsidizes kilts.
The SAMMY Program gave scholarships to student athletes up until 2012. SAMMY stands for “Scholar
Athlete Milk Mustache of the Year,” so the athletes had to be milk-drinkers.
The winners of the National Marbles Tournament receive scholarships ranging from $500-$2,000.
You must be between 8-14 years old to enter the tournament.
Each year, the Michigan Llama Association gives a scholarship to a member of the association
or the child of a member.
The Top Turkey Scholarship Contest is held by the Culinary Institute of America. The
winner gets $10,000 for writing the best recipe for Thanksgiving leftovers.
Speaking of birds, the Chick and Sophie Major Memorial Duck Calling Contest gives out a
scholarship to -- you guessed it -- the person with the best duck call.
The Starfleet Academy, a.k.a. the International Star Trek Fan Association, gives out annual
scholarships for things like engineering, medicine, business, and the arts.
At the University of North Carolina Greensboro, the Alice Mcarver Ratchford Scholarship requires
you to be a single female, living on campus, without a car.
The National Grocers Association gives out an Asparagus Club Scholarship to an undergrad
or graduate student who’s studying something like business or food management with the
intent of a career in the grocery industry.
If your last name is Zolp, you’re Catholic, and you attend Loyola University Chicago,
you are eligible for the Zolp Scholarship. And something tells me you’ll be the only
one applying.
To win the $20,000 American Fire Sprinkler Association Scholarship, you must answer a
multiple choice quiz on fire sprinklers.
The Bob Gurnsey Scholarship Awards are given out to excellent paintball players.
The National Make It with Wool contest gives out three scholarships every year between
$1,000 and $2,000. The winners sewed the best garments out of wool.
In order to qualify for the Tall Clubs International Scholarship, men have to be at least 6’2”
and women must be over 5’10”.
Zinch.com gives out a weekly $1,000 scholarship. They give out different prompts each week
and applicants must answer in 2-3 sentences.
The National Gay Pilots Association Scholarship gives out scholarships. You must be an aspiring
pilot who has contributed to the LGBT community.
Duck Brand provides $10,000 of college funds for the student who makes the best duct tape
prom dress. The contest is called “Stuck at Prom.”
Speaking of ducks, the first place winner in the Junior Duck Stamp Contest wins a $1,000
scholarship. The contest involves drawing a 9 x 12” North American duck, swan, or
goose.
Wholesale Halloween Costumes has a $500 scholarship contest. Every year it changes, but recently
it was a pumpkin carving contest.
There are multiple foundations that give out scholarships to young skateboarders, like
the Go Skateboarding Foundation.
In 2004, the National Christmas Tree Association held a scholarship contest called “Help
Santa Find the Perfect Real Christmas Tree.” The winner got $10,000 for her family’s
Christmas tree in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Lake Erie College has a Twins Scholarship that allows two twins to attend the school
for the tuition cost of one. The school claims that this eases the financial burden of parents
with twins who would otherwise have to pay “at least half a million dollars in tuition.”
I feel like they’re rounding up.
There’s an FBI Common Knowledge Scholarship for $250. To win, you take a quiz that tests
how much you know about the FBI.
Finally, I return to the salon to tell you that the winner of the annual Jif’s Most
Creative Sandwich contest receives a $25,000 college fund. The most recent winner created
the “Crunchy, Creamy, Dreamy Finger Sandwich” featuring ladyfingers, heavy cream, thin pretzels,
mascarpone cheese, and (of course) Jif peanut butter.
Thanks for watching Mental Floss on YouTube, which is made with the help of all these nice
people. Again, I’m Paige and if you want to check out my channel you can find it here.
DFTBA!