The Junior League of Washington (JLW) is committed to supporting pathways to opportunities through improved access to education, professional and financial development, and capacity building resources in our community. Our annual Meg Graham Scholarship is an important piece of fulfilling our mission.  This volunteer service award was established in 1982 in honor of the late Reverend Margaret M. Graham, a former member of the Junior League of Washington and former President of the Association of Junior Leagues International. The $10,000 scholarship is awarded in her memory.

MEG GRAHAM SCHOLARSHIP: CELEBRATING SERVICE AND LEADERSHIP

The Junior League of Washington is pleased to announce Godspower Onyeukwu as the winner of the 2021-22 Meg Graham Scholarship: Celebrating Service and Leadership. Mr. Onyeukwu impressed our interview committee with his commitment to lifting up youth in the Ward 7 community.

The Scholarship Committee is also honored to present this year’s Book Award to Folajimi Adejuno, a senior at E.L. Haynes High School. Ms. Adejuno is a brilliant young woman who is passionate about speaking up for others, and has made a mark arguing for restorative justice and reducing the school to prison pipeline.  

We hope you join us in congratulating our finalists and recipients. The field of applications was impressive, and we are honored to have met these students through this process. The Junior League of Washington is dedicated to developing exceptionally qualified civic leaders who are passionate about disrupting cycles of poverty and creating pathways to opportunity for those in our Washington, DC community. We hope to see many of these applicants join our growing community of over 2,300 trained volunteers when they complete their college careers. 

Applications for the 2022-23 academic year can be found here.

KEY SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION DATES

• Thursday, March 2, 2023 I Application Deadline
• Saturday, April 15 or Sunday, April 16, 2023 I In person interviews for selected finalists
• April 26, 2023 I Scholarship winner notified by this date

For additional details or questions, please email scholarship@jlw.org.

2023 Youth Poetry Contest

We are thrilled to announce the opening of the Junior League of Washington’s 24th Annual Youth Poetry Contest for DC public and public charter school students. We look forward to reading their interpretations of this year’s theme, Home (4-5 graders) and Community (6-8 graders) 

Students may submit up to two poems in either Spanish or English. Entries will be judged by a panel of JLW volunteers on the basis of content, originality, creativity, and clarity. Please see below for contest details:

• Students in grades four through eight are eligible if they are either:
  • Enrolled in a DC Public or Public Charter School, or affiliated with the Washington Archdiocese.
  • Enrolled in an after-school program with a provider who is either listed as a DCPS Partner or has previously been reviewed by Junior League of Washington through our Grants and Volunteer Resources program.
• Poems must be submitted by a teacher, school administrator, or program administrator as a PDF attachment via email to poetrycontest@jlw.org. Multiple student entries per email are acceptable but each PDF may contain only one submission.
• Each poem submitted must include in the top right corner the name and grade of the student, school name, name of the submitting teacher or administrator, and the submitter’s email address.
• The deadline for submission is Friday, March 31, 2023 by 6 p.m. EST. Late entries cannot be accepted. 

Join us on February 25th from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. at the MLK Library for a free Poetry Workshop where students can learn about writing poetry from Lindsay Bernal of the University of Maryland’s MFA in Creative Writing, co-director of the Writers Here & Now reading series, and winner of the 2017 National Poetry Series Competition! 

Registration is required, submit your information here.

Questions about the poetry contest can be directed to poetrycontest@jlw.org.