High school seniors living in Tempe or attending the Tempe Union High School District are eligible for a $2,000 scholarship from the Tempe Diablos, a civic organization operating within the city. The scholarship application deadline is Sunday, January 22, 2023.
The Tempe Diablos scholarship offers $2,000 to eligible students and is renewable for up to four years, according to Mark Burnside, the scholarship chairman for Tempe Diablos.
“The beauty of this scholarship is that, you know, it's not specific to one element or one part of a student's academic career,” Burnside said. “It takes into account academics, it takes into account financial need, leadership, all of those things combined.”
Students attending ASU or a Maricopa Community College are also eligible for the scholarship.
While academic merit, such as a 3.0 grade point average, SAT and ACT scores are factored into the application, Burnside said the Tempe Diablos put a focus on “leadership and experience that the student has during their high school and academic career.”
“We want to have somebody that ideally is going to go on to ASU and stay in the community and bring back to the community what they've learned,” Burnside said.
Burnside encouraged students to look at the application requirements early, rather than waiting until the last minute.
“I tell students that I speak to, I say ‘This is really an $8,000 opportunity for you,'” Burnside said. “And, you know, in my opinion, it's worth spending, you know, four or five, six hours, minimum, to make sure that you have the very best application that you can put forth.”
The application consists of a series of short essays, according to Burnside. Responses to those essays are what set scholarship recipients apart from others competing for the same award, Burnside said.
Once applications are submitted, ASU pre-screens them and releases the final student eligibility numbers to the Tempe Diablos. Then, members of the Tempe Diablos conduct interviews with students for approximately 20 minutes, Burnside explained.
The Tempe Diablos conducting the interviews are members like Burnside — a parent and someone engaged in the local community.
“I encourage students to put in as much effort as they did into the application into the interview process,” he said. “Do your research. Take a look at the Tempe Diablos website. Get a feel for what we do, who we are, so that you can speak to us during the interview process from a place of knowledge about who's about to award you the scholarship.”
For more information about the Tempe Diablos scholarship, click here.
