Law Enforcement Scholarships

Sometimes, simple gestures of gratitude turn into meaningful initiative and support.

That is exactly what happened with Operation Thank an Officer. In 2014, the President of the organization, Liz Gerads, wished to boost morale of law enforcement officers throughout Minnesota upon hearing they never got even a simple “thank you”. While talking to the Vice President of the organization, Lisa DePasquale, they came up with an idea to send thank you notes to police departments across the country.

What started off as collecting just 200 thank you cards, soon turned into 8,000 cards distributed all over Minnesota, and then across the nation! Obviously, Liz and Lisa were expressing something that connected to a lot of people, and Operation Thank an Officer was born – its aim to send notes of encouragement and gratitude to law enforcement officers and departments during the most trying times.

How does this inspiring story relate to Law Enforcement Scholarships, you might ask?

Operation Thank an Officer is an officially registered 501(c)3 organization. The organization eventually noticed that the numbers of police officers are plummeting, year after year. Although thank you cards are important to existing officers, the organization wanted to do more – so they decided to support law enforcement families and communities through scholarships.

Namely, they give thousands of dollars each year to financially support students who pursue a degree in law enforcement, students whose family members are police officers, and law enforcement officials who wish to further educate themselves. You can find and apply for these scholarships on scholarshipowl.

We’ve Got Leads on New Scholarships

Operation Thank an Officer is currently accepting applications for six new scholarships, both high-school and college level.

In order to be eligible for one of these scholarships, you should be a resident of the United States and fulfill one of the following conditions:

• pursue a degree in law enforcement or service industry,
• you are a law enforcement officer, retired law enforcement officer, or medically retired law enforcement official who wishes to further their education,
• one of your parents is a law enforcement officer, retired law enforcement officer, or a law enforcement officer who has passed away.

Operation Thank an Officer offers following scholarships:

1. Darius Quimby Scholarship (College) – one-time prize of 1,000 USD for college students currently pursuing a degree in law enforcement, or law enforcement officers pursuing an advanced degree,
2. Darius Quimby Scholarship (High School) – one-time prize of 1,000 USD for high school students currently pursuing a degree in law enforcement, or law enforcement officers pursuing an advanced degree,
3. Operation Thank an Officer Scholarship (College) – one-time prize of 1,000 USD for students enrolled in a higher education institute, whose parent is a law enforcement officer, a retired law enforcement officer, or a law enforcement officer who has passed away,
4. Operation Thank an Officer Scholarship (High School) – one-time prize of 1,000 USD for high school seniors, whose parent is a law enforcement officer, a retired law enforcement officer, or a law enforcement officer who has passed away,
5. State Trooper Joshua Orbeck Memorial Scholarship – one-time prize of 1,000 USD for high school seniors who reside in the State of Minnesota, have achieved an Eagle Scout status and will pursue a career in a service industry (law enforcement, military, medical, public safety),
6. Law Enforcement Scholarship – one-time prize of 1,000 USD for law enforcement officials, retired law enforcement officials, or medically retired law enforcement officials in the United States.

Besides application documents, all the scholarships require an essay for successful application.

Application deadline for all the scholarships is March 1, 2020. Read more on the scholarships here.

Winners will be announced on the Operation Thank an Officer’s official blog.

Partnering Up

ScholarshipOWL and ScholarshipApp believe in expressing gratitude, building communities and giving back. We are proud to have partnered with Operation Thank an Officer, whom we consider an amazing and important initiative. 

Thank an Officer has been announcing their scholarships via ScholarshipOWL portal, and the application gathering process was entrusted to ScholarshipApp iFrame. This is a testament to trust developed between the two organizations.

Head over to Operation Thank an Officer’s website and apply for these awesome scholarships.

The Operation Thank an Officer scholarship requires only an application form, a transcript and an essay. The essay asks you to describe a time when you have demonstrated service above self and what it taught you. ScholarshipOwl can help you answer this question as they have a post on how to answer a similar essay question why do you deserve this scholarship.

Finally, once all the work is done, grab a nice, glazed doughnut and celebrate.

Job well done, partner!