Vocational Discernment Grants

Students are eligible for one Vocational Discernment Grant of up to $200 during their years at Willamette.

Vocational discernment is defined as an educational opportunity for vocational exploration (for example attending a conference, workshop, or training session) that contributes to your development and relates to service (how you can bring back and use what you are gaining/learning for the betterment of our campus/local/larger community).

PLEASE NOTE:

Applications must be submitted at least two (2) weeks prior to the educational opportunity.
Retro-active funding will not be considered.
Vocational Discernment Grants do not fund job fairs, networking, recruiting opportunities, or job-hunting.
A maximum of two (2) grants will be awarded for students to attend/participate in a particular conference/training opportunity in any given semester.

Application assistance

The grant application process a learning opportunity for students and offers support to students as they work through the process of applying for funding. To make an appointment to discuss your ideas, ask questions or review drafts please call x6413 to make an appointment.

To apply

Submit a letter of application to Jeani Bragg, associate director of the Lilly Project, addressing the following criteria for funding and reflecting on why this is an important educational opportunity for the applicant and how this vocation is related to service (serves people in some way). Your application must contain the following:

Description of the opportunity including how it furthers your vocational exploration and what you hope to gain from the experience: The conference or educational opportunity must provide resources for discernment and support of a vocation. It must allow you to pursue a vocational area of interest and to develop yourself by engaging in questions such as: Is there something you can learn at this event that will help you further discern, challenge, consider the possibilities of engaging in this life path? Tell us what the opportunity is, what you want to explore and what you hope to gain (be specific).
Interest and Importance: You must show evidence of interest in this vocational direction (i.e., previous or current service, membership in clubs, course work, advocacy, etc.) Tell us what led you to this point and why it is important to you.
Giving Back: You must provide a plan/proposal of how the knowledge gained at the conference/workshop/training event will be shared with the WU/Salem community or others.
Budget: Prepare an estimated budget and provide documentation about the educational opportunity and the costs of attendance (brochure, registration info, travel estimates [sample airfares, mileage]).
Other Funding Sources: You should indicate what other sources, if any, have been approached about funding, and the disposition of those requests.

Notification

The applicant will be contacted regarding the status of his/her proposal within one (1) week. If the proposal is accepted s/he will receive additional information regarding funding procedures.

Post-Experience

The student must submit the following no more than two weeks after the experience:

A one-page reflection explaining and evaluating the experience. – In what way did you engage in vocational exploration and what did you learn?
Profile information to be used for the Career Center website, bulletin boards, etc. Information must include: Name, photo, class year, major and a short description of the educational experience and what you gained from it.

Questions?

Contact Jeani Bragg at jbragg, x6413 or visit the Career Center (UC3).