Pioneers of Inclusion Scholarship

To provide scholarships to high-achieving, urban, first generation, undergraduate students who are interested in attending St. Louis University but are limited due to financial challenges.
Minimum GPA of 3.0, preference given to those focusing study in STEAM, good academic and disciplinary standing, and have filed a FAFSA for the current academic year.

On February 11, 1944, Father Claude Heithaus, S.J., delivered a decisive sermon about racial prejudice in America. This Mass was pivotal in Saint Louis University’s (SLU) admission of African American students. This led to SLU becoming the first university in a former slave state to establish an official policy to admit African Americans. This historic shift came 10 years before the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (Topeka, Kansas), which rendered racial segregation in education illegal.

The Pioneers of Inclusion Scholarship Endowment (POISE) was established in 2014 by SLU’s Black Alumni Association, 70 years after SLU’s historic shift. This initiative celebrates the legacy of those students who pioneered desegregation at SLU, and it supports current students who represent this legacy of courage for inclusion. As in 1944, SLU is furthering its commitment to social justice by neutralizing the effects of racial segregation through its mission. POISE supports SLU in living its mission by providing scholarships to increase SLU’s affordability for students with financial need who will live this legacy and pioneer more inclusion for others.

Award
Varies
Scopes
Diversity, Student Financial Services
Deadline
11/30/2020
Supplemental Questions
  1. Please submit a resume with your work experience, leadership and community service accomplishments.
  2. Briefly describe yourself and background in less than 100 words
  3. To achieve their goals, these Pioneers of Inclusion demonstrated poise, courage and perseverance during difficult times. Describe a prior experience that called for you to demonstrate poise, courage, and perseverance. What did you learn from this experience? Note: If you are a prior POISE recipient, please answer the questions as they relate to having already received the award. For instance, what have you done in the past 12 months that lives the legacy forward.
  4. Urban Setting is defined as: in, relating to, or characteristic of a zip code inclusive of larger populations that are historically underserved and underrepresented. Based on the definition, are you from an urban area?
  5. Historically underrepresented is defined as: groups who have been denied access and/or suffered past institutional discrimination in the United States. According to the Census and other federal measuring tools, these groups are generally considered to include, but are not limited to, African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics or Chicanos/Latinos, and Native Americans. Based on the definition, do you represent a historically underrepresented population?