Oh My Gosh, I Won a Scholarship!

As an avid family historian with a lifetime of experience in the public education system, I firmly believe in lifelong education. Since beginning ProGen 25 in 2015 one of my personal genealogy goals has been to attend one genealogy institute per year. I’ve been very fortunate to have done just that once a year from June 2015 - January 2019.

I was able to extend that goal by attending virtual institutes presented by Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) in the fall of 2017 and 2018. All were wonderful learning experiences. The opportunity to learn from the best and network with other budding and professional genealogists is very valuable to me.

Last November I decided to fill out an application for one of the AncestryProGenealogist scholarships. I had applied for this and other scholarships over the past few years without success. I updated my resume to reflect some volunteer work I had completed last summer and the genealogy institutes I had recently attended.

I also wrote an essay briefly explaining “my genealogy career up to this point, where I see myself in the future as a professional genealogist, and how attending my top-choice institute would benefit my career.”

I filled out the application and rated the four genealogy institutes based on my preference. This was probably the toughest part as I have experienced two of the four institutes and heard only wonderful things about the remaining two. 

So, since I had attended the Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research (IGHR) twice and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) three times, I decided to rate Genealogy Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP) and Genealogical Institute on Federal Records (GedFed) as the top two.

At the end of January, I received an email that said, “CONGRATULATIONS! You have been selected as a GRAND PRIZE Winner in our Contest.”  I had to read it a few times to let it sink in. I won one of the grand prizes which included the flight, hotel and course fee to the Genealogy Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP)! 

I am so grateful for the opportunity and truly appreciate the scholarship program that AncestryProGenealogists sponsor.