The California Scholarship Federation (CSF), Inc. provides scholarship benefits to qualified California high school students for a lifetime membership or seal bearer award. Once qualified high school students graduate and achieve this lifetime membership, they will be eligible for a variety of tuition scholarships available at colleges across the state and at select universities across the country.
CSF is a non-profit organization that recognizes and encourages academic achievement as well as community service among media and high school students to adopt California Internships. To accomplish this, the scholarship organization has approximately 1,500 chapters in middle and high schools throughout the state.
The chapters help administer the scholarships. Therefore, each chapter is made up of student members who meet the eligibility requirements and is led by a staff advisor.
Meanwhile, eligible students become members of the scholarship organization by submitting applications based on their qualification scores. However, membership is for one semester only. In addition, membership drives are held each semester within the established periods dictated by the State Bylaws.
CSF holds annual conferences where students receive awards recognizing their academic achievement and community service.
About the California Scholarship Federation
CSF was founded in 1921 and is the oldest academic school institution in the state of California. The Scholarship Corps emphasizes high standards of scholarship and community service for California high school students. It also encourages service to the school and community while fostering pride in academic achievement.
However, Mr. Charles F. Seymour at a convention of high school principals in Oakland in 1916 proposed the idea of the scholarship before its creation in 1921.
Mr. Seymour at the time was the vice principal of National City High school in San Diego County. The idea did not come into action until 1921, after Mr. Seymour’s campaign for support of the idea.
After recording progress in the scholarship organization, in 1925, the Board of Trustees initiated a program with various colleges and universities to reserve tuition scholarships for CSF Life Members.
This reservation is still valid to date. Today there are a few colleges and universities in California and the US that participate in the program.
Therefore, CSF Life members should only check with their preferred college or university upon admission.
To limit progress, in 1967, CSF founded the California Youth Scholarship Federation (CJSF) to promote high standards of scholarship, service, and citizenship in the junior/high school grades.
Now, the rapid growth of the California Youth Scholarship Federation (CJSF) is greatly strengthening the CSF.
CSF Membership
LCR membership is a scholarship based and earned after qualifying grades are earned each semester. Therefore, in order to become a member of LCR, you will need to submit an application with a transcript for each semester.
To be eligible for LCR membership, you will need to earn sufficient points from lists of pre-approved courses specified by the organization. In addition, the majority of the required membership points must come from a University of California-accepted job course.
Meanwhile, Life Membership or Sealbearer is achieved by qualifying for CSF scholarships for four or more semesters in the last three years of high school. This term will not include your freshman year. Your Sealbearer qualification awards you the CSF Gold Seal on diplomas and transcripts. However, you must take into account that one of the semesters that the lifetime membership grants you must be from the grades obtained during the last year.
Also, keep in mind that citizenship counts in CSF. If you receive an “N” or “U” in citizenship, you are not qualified for CSF scholarships for that semester.
CSF Junior Information
If you are a current 11th-grade CSF member, be careful when choosing your classes for next year. This is because your high first semester grades, added to three previous semester memberships, determine if you will be a Sealbearer at graduation.
Meanwhile, to be a Seal Bearer, you need to score 10 points!
You will need to take enough Schedule I and Schedule II classes and continue to work toward getting “A’s” in order to have enough CSF points.
You should know that “B’s” are only worth one point, while “A’s” are worth three points.
Therefore, your point total for the list must be at least 4, and your point total for lists I and II must be at least 7. Your TOTAL for all lists must be at least 10.
Check the List To see what subjects you should focus on.
Also, keep in mind that a “D” or “F” in any course will disqualify you.
Senior CSF Information
You can get a lifetime membership if you have been a CSF member for at least four semesters during the last three years of high school, including one semester of SENIOR GRADES!
Do not stop applying for the LCR in the next semester if you are eligible.
However, if you do not meet the eligibility requirements in the first semester, you still have the opportunity to become a lifetime member if you do well in your second semester.
All you need to do is see your CSF advisor. The person who will give you an application for the second semester of your senior year. However, you will need your teacher’s signature indicating your current grades.
CSF and CJSF Regions
The rapid growth of the California Scholarship Federation led to the division of the state into regions for student conferences. These regions help the organization to effectively achieve its goal.
Currently, CSF has five regions. They are the following:
North:
This includes Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Sacramento, Amador, Calaveras, Alpine, and Mono counties, as well as all counties north of them.
Central:
This includes all counties between the crest of the Coast Range in the west and the crest of the Sierra Nevada in the east. It also extends from San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne counties in the far north to Kern County in the south.
You should be aware that the portion of Kern County east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range is excluded from the Central region.
Central Coast:
This includes all counties west of the Coast Range, from Marin and Contra Costa counties in the north to San Luis Obispo county in the south.
South Central:
This includes Inyo, Kern (eastern Sierra Nevada crest only), Ventura, and Santa Barbara counties, and all of Los Angeles County, except for the small portion of the southeast designated as part of the Southern Region.
South:
This includes San Bernardino and Orange counties, as well as all counties south of them.
It also includes a small portion of Los Angeles County that is bounded as follows: on the west, along the San Gabriel River, which runs north from the I-405 freeway bridge until it reaches the Azusa city limit at Huntington Dr / Foothill Blvd., west along the Azusa city line running north to its intersection with the Los Angeles National Forest line, and then north along the Los Angeles National Forest line, extending east to the San Bernardino County line.
Benefits of the California Scholarship Federation
Members of the California Scholarship Federation benefit from awards that subsidize tuition fees. These awards are available to middle and high school students.
CJSF Awards
Awards in this category provide benefits for middle or high school members of the California Scholarship Federation.
In addition, CJSF awards two annual awards in this category.
#1. The Marian Huhn Memorial Award
This award recognizes outstanding seventh and eighth-grade student members of the California Youth Scholarship Federation for academic excellence and service to the school and community.
However, to be eligible for this award, you will need to be nominated by your CJSF advisor.
The award is open annually on November 15. , and closes on February 18.
Also, works for The total value of the prize is $6,250. of which five students from each region receive $250.
In the meantime, you will have participated in the Huhn Workshop at your region’s spring conference to be considered for this financial award.
Additionally, your Chapter must be in good standing and paying its dues for the current school year.
#2. 50th Anniversary Digiovanna Memorial Award
This award is in honor of the CJSF 50th Anniversary and the recent passing of Joanna DiGiovanna, longtime CJSF Advisor/CSF-CJSF Board Member.
The prize is being awarded for the second time this year, following last year, and may be available next year.
To be eligible for this award, you will need to write an essay.
Essay submission will be closed on January 2022. However, watch out for November 1, 2022. The award may be open for application.
Each winning winner from the Five Regions will receive a $100 prize. However, additional winners may be selected, depending on the availability of funds.
CSF Awards
Awards in this category provide benefits to senior California Scholarship Federation high school members.
In addition, CSF awards three annual awards in this category.
#1. Seymour Memorial Awards
The award is in memory of Charles F. Seymour and his devoted wife, Marian H. Seymour, who together provided the inspiration and leadership that fostered the California Scholarship Federation.
To be eligible for this award, you will need to be nominated by your CSF advisor.
Meanwhile, you must have earned Seal Bearer status by the end of the first semester of your senior year.
The application starts on January 1 each year and closes on February 18th.
The total value of the prize is $100,000. and 50 Graduating Seal Bearers receive $2,000 each.
However, five of these 50, one per region, receive an additional $3,000 regional prize recipient.
Therefore, the award is considered to be one of the highest scholastic honors bestowed on high school graduates in the state of California.
#2. Michelson Memorial Award
This CSF award is in memory of the late Glenn Michelson, a CSF advisor for the past 20 years at Sequoia High School in Redwood City and a former member of the Board of Directors.
Glenn bequeathed funds to CSF after his passing, and the Board of Trustees voted to have an annual essay contest in Glenn’s honor open to CSF high school seniors with a passion for service. Therefore, the expiration date for this award is December 22 and Glenn’s birthday.
All members of the California Federation of Senior Scholarships are eligible to apply.
Application for this CSF award begins November 1 and closes December 22nd each year.
The total value of this CSF award is $1,000. , and is available to all seniors who are members of a CSF chapter in good standing.
#3. Outstanding Seal Bearer Award
This award recognizes life graduate members who demonstrate great effort and motivation, and have great potential but are overlooked in other awards. However, to qualify for this award you will need to demonstrate financial need.
In addition, the award selects five students, one from each CSF region. Advisors from CSF chapters in good standing may nominate a candidate, and a committee of Board members selects one recipient for each region.
Nominations open on January 1 and March 1 point each year.
The total value of this CSF award is $1,000.
Conclusion
The California Scholarship Federation (CSF), Inc. awards scholarships to qualified California high school students for lifetime membership or a seal. This scholarship, founded in 1921, is one of the highest academic honors awarded to high school graduates in the state of California.
Scholarships not only benefit the high school student while they are in high school, but also provide funding for their college or university education.
However, you have to be a California citizen to be a CSF member, and you will also need to maintain excellent academic qualifications.
