New Website, Same Scholarship Fund

It has been quite a few years since the Amish Descendant Scholarship Fund (ADSF) put out a blog post, and many changes have taken place.

In 2012, Emma Miller and Naomi Kramer Yoder co-founded the fund and had been managing it together since then. They awarded scholarships of more than a total of $250,000 to over 100 students. There are many scholars grateful for the help they have received over the years. You will be hearing from some of them in the near future.

Earlier this year, Emma decided to step away from management for the time being, while Naomi is guiding the new team through our first year of managing the scholarship. Two of us are writing this, Eythana and Saloma. You can read more about the team on our About Us page.

One of the changes we’ve made is the creation of our new website. The original site had security challenges that prompted us to build a new one. We hope you’ll peruse it and leave us feedback in the comments section.

Even though we have a new site, the fund and its goals remain the same. We hope to expand the Fund with outreach to provide scholarships to as many eligible students as we can. We strive to reach more students, and to raise more funds to match the needs.

We are currently open for new applications, with the deadline for receiving applications this Sunday, July 20. So if you are a formerly Amish or Plain student and have been meaning to apply, now is the time. We will be awarding scholarships by August 1.

In addition to scholarships we are now also offering a mentorship program. We are connecting aspiring or current students who emerged from an Amish or Plain Anabaptist community with someone from a similar background who has already finished college. Whether you’re thinking about college or are enrolled, you are invited to apply at our Mentorship page.

If you grew up in a Plain community and know the difficult journey to college, we invite you to become a mentor. Just fill out our quick form with your bio. We can pair you with a student based on interests and experiences. Details are on our Mentorship page.

If you know someone who left a Plain community and would like to further their education, please help us spread the word by sending them a link to this post.

And last but not least, if you want to donate to ADSF, we welcome your gift, no matter the size. Our applicants are a determined and dedicated group of students, and our goal is to give every eligible student a scholarship to help them along their way. We are completely reliant on our generous donors to make this happen. To make a contribution, please visit our Donate page.

Do you have time and energy that you would like to devote to help our efforts as a volunteer? Please visit our Contact Us page to tell us about yourself.

With our new website as one of our tools, we strive to support students whose childhood education was a means for social discipline and are now seeking an unlimited college education as a means for living their chosen life.

Thank you for your visit today. We invite you to leave a comment. We wish you a wonderful weekend and hope to see you back here soon.

Illuminating the path