The Mall at Rockingham Park and Simon Youth Foundation seek applicants for 2015

For a fifteenth straight year, Simon Youth Foundation, a national nonprofit that provides educational opportunities for at-risk high school students, will award a college scholarship to one student from every community that is home to a Simon property.

Simon Youth Foundation Community Scholarships are awarded through the Simon Youth Scholarships program and in partnership with local Simon properties. The application period has begun at Simon malls in New England and ends on Wednesday, February 25, 2015.

Locally, students can visit www.syf.org to apply for a scholarship.

Any student who will be graduating in the class of 2015 and lives within 50 miles of a Simon property is eligible. The program will award a one-time scholarship of up to $1,500 to students who plan to enroll in an accredited college, university, vocational or technical school.

In addition, a regional award called the “Award of Excellence” will be given to a top candidate from the Northeast. A student from this area will have the opportunity to win a $2,500 scholarship that is renewable for up to three years. Ten of these regional Awards of Excellence will be given out across the country.

In 2014 the Simon Youth Scholarships program awarded $1.1 million to 243 students nationwide.

The 2015 SYF Community Scholarship recipients will be selected by International Scholarship and Tuition Services, Inc. (ISTS), a third-party administrator. Students are selected based on a variety of criteria, including financial need, academic performance, leadership skills and participation in school and community activities. Those students who are the first in their family to pursue a post-secondary education will also be given close consideration.

Recipients will be notified the week of May 4, 2015.

About SYF

Simon Youth Foundation, established in 1998, supports 22 Simon Youth Academies in 12 U.S. states that give at-risk students the same education they would receive in a traditional classroom while offering the flexibility that their individual circumstances require. Recipient of the Crystal Star Award of Excellence in Dropout Prevention from the National Dropout Prevention Center, the foundation has helped more than 12,000 students earn their high school diploma and provided more than $12 million in college scholarships to 3,900 students in 42 states. The Education Commission of the United States has recognized the foundation with its Corporate Award for sustained and substantial investment in improving public education.