The application opened in late July and the deadline to apply is Friday, August 21st. [Apply here] Students eligible to apply are those impacted in some way by the COVID-19 pandemic through a loss of internship or family income changes, for example. Students should also demonstrate involvement on or off campus in the form of student organizations, volunteering, employment, etc.

When classes transitioned online and Purdue’s campus shut down in March, PESC began to recognize that the greatest student need that should be addressed was in the form of COVID-19 assistance. PESC also saw fellow engineering students begin to lose internships, research, and professional experience due to the economic conditions caused by the pandemic.

“We really saw some Engineering Student Councils from across the country stepping up and providing for their communities in different ways, like creating an internship program, and we knew that we needed to do everything we could to learn from them to have as successful of an initiative for Purdue Engineering students,” said PESC Treasurer Morgan Callin (Biological Engineering Senior).

PESC met with the Student Engineers’ Council of Texas A&M in early May to learn about the internship program they organized to provide experience to students with rescinded opportunities. With this perspective, PESC began seeking opportunities to support the engineering student community at Purdue in their own way.

The result was the COVID-19 Scholarship Fund, which was created using the organization’s reallocated funds from cancelled events. PESC created the scholarship application and criteria with assistance from the College of Engineering’s Associate Director of Student Success, Lori Pence, the Student Activities Office, and the Business Office of Student Organizations to ensure quality and fairness of the award process. As of August 16th, over 1100 applications have been received across all grade levels and engineering disciplines, clearly demonstrating the need for the fund.

“As a student who was personally affected financially and professionally by an internship being rescinded this summer, I really wanted to help make sure that PESC was taking the time to evaluate our options for serving this growing population of students in the same situation,” said PESC President Emmalee Severson (Industrial Engineering Senior).

Application submissions are due by this Friday, August 21st, and priority is given to students who have demonstrated financial need due to the pandemic. Scholarships will be awarded late in the fall semester. Any questions regarding the PESC COVID-19 Scholarship Fund can be directed to pesc@ecn.purdue.edu.

Apply here for PESC COVID-19 Scholarship (due by August 21st)

About PESC:

Founded in 1975, the Purdue Engineering Student Council lives by its mission statement of “serving students, serving faculty, serving industry.” Since its founding, PESC has risen to have a major campus presence through its career fairs, campus events, and outreach. Our members are some of the most enthusiastic and motivated leaders at Purdue, and we are proud that our members come from nearly every engineering discipline. PESC prides itself on its ability to give back to the greater Purdue community, and is always planning and building new ways to make an impact. PESC is an entirely student run organization that is now accepting applications for new members in the Fall of 2020. Visit https://www.purdueesc.org/how-to-join to learn more about the application process.