#GivingTuesday2018 Scholarship Drive
What: With your help we aim to raise $10,000 to fully fund the costs of hotel, travel, and conference registration for 20 of the most passionate and driven students from around the nation, allowing them to attend Spacevision 2019.
When: From now until the end of Giving Tuesday 2018
Why:
As the central event of the year for SEDS, Spacevision is meant to serve as a convergence point, where students can showcase the incredible work they have done, companies can interact with the future leaders of the space industry, and everyone involved, whether SEDS members, industry representatives, or SEDS alumni, can come together in a celebration of the camaraderie and passion that drives us all.
However, it is often the case that the costs of travel, lodging, and conference registration can restrict students from attending this incredible event. Out of the 3,000 SEDS-USA members nationwide, only around 300 attend the conference. This still makes Spacevision the nation’s largest student space conference, but it also raises the question as to why we are not working harder to allow everyone the chance to attend this career-defining event. Talented and passionate students from around the nation are losing out on the opportunities that Spacevision provides -- opportunities that could lead to friendships, future internships, and a career doing what they love -- solely due to the financial costs associated with the conference.
To gauge the scope of this problem, this year SEDS-USA offered $3000 to fully fund hotel, registration, and travel for 6 students to come to this year’s SpaceVision conference. The response was overwhelming. Over the course of just 1 week the application committee received 88 forms. Each was highly competitive -- in fact the top 31 applicants were separated only by a few points. Many of the applicants came from schools with small or sometimes even no SEDS presence. Many of them were heavily financially restricted, with some even working part-time jobs to save up money for Spacevision. And all of them shared an infectious optimism about their ability to make a change in the space industry and the world.
It is clear that there are far more than 6 students who would benefit from these Spacevision scholarships, and it is now our goal to make sure each one of these future space leaders has the opportunity to attend this life-changing event. Therefore, we are announcing the first annual SpaceVision Scholarship Sponsorship Drive. With your help, our goal is to raise $10,000 by the end of Giving Tuesday 2018 which would fully fund the hotel, travel, and registration costs for 20 of the most ambitious and passionate SEDS members to attend Spacevision in 2019.