DANIEL MURPHY SCHOLARSHIP FUND

The DMSF Affinity Group Program provides support to enable scholars to be in community with other Scholars, and meet and overcome challenges so that they are successful in high school, college and beyond.

Objective: Motivate scholars to celebrate their whole selves and nurture their attitude and beliefs about their academic abilities and as young leaders. This group looks to interrogate themselves, the world around them, and lead an opportunity to educate others. Scholars will be able to participate in either the Black identifying, Latinx identifying, LGBTQIA+ identifying, AAPI identifying, Boarding School, Male identifying or Female identifying Affinity Groups. This group will meet twice a month on Saturdays.

Many DMSF Scholars will be the first generation in their families to attend college. To help both Scholars and their parents, DMSF has implemented a four-year college counseling curriculum. We take Scholars and parents on college tours beginning their freshman year of high school, and we host seminars to discuss the different types of colleges and universities as well as the many kinds of applications and financial aid packages. Beginning junior year we help our Scholars prepare for standardized tests like the ACT and SAT, we help them develop the list of colleges to which they will apply, and we help them find scholarships for which they are eligible. DMSF has a full-time college counselor on its staff to facilitate this work.

Widely-recognized research on the "Summer Slide” demonstrates that students of all age groups who are unengaged and unproductive during the summer months lose some of the academic gains earned during the previous school year. To combat this learning loss phenomenon and capitalize on opportunities for Scholar growth, DMSF organizes a number of summer opportunities including internships, service projects, study abroad experiences, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs.

The hallmark summer opportunity that DMSF offers its Scholars is our Caddie Program. This competitive program provides immediate and long-term benefits for DMSF Scholars—immediately, Scholars earn spending money and gain job experience while caddying at local country clubs for the summer. Caddies live in college dormitories for the duration of the program and experience independence away from home. Caddying, in addition to maintaining good grades, also makes Scholars eligible to apply for the Chick Evans Scholarship, a four-year, full tuition college scholarship awarded by the Western Golf Association. To date, over 250 DMSF Scholars have been awarded the Evans Scholarship.

In order to prepare newly-admitted DMSF Scholars for the upcoming college preparatory environment of our partner schools, each incoming freshman must attend two week-long workshops during the summer before they enter high school. The first workshop, which is presented by a group of professional speech pathologists, teaches Scholars how to use the academic and business language that is expected of them in high school. The second workshop helps students prepare to be an "Ideal Student” and covers such topics as time management, organization skills and note-taking. Together, these workshops provide transitional support to link our Scholars’ middle school experiences to those they will encounter at a college preparatory high school.

At the beginning of the school year a group of incoming Scholars will be selected as Schmitt Scholars. These Scholars will remain as Schmitt Scholars throughout their high school career.

Objective: Schmitt Scholars represents a group of nominated leaders that are interested in growing their leadership in action of themselves and others. This group is mostly Scholar-led and is overseen by the Chief Education Officer to support the ideas and execution of two Scholar-driven and researched community service events or projects. Meeting dates and times will be determined by the student Board of Directors with input from the participants.

Scholars who have maintained a DMSF grade point average of at least a 3.0 during the first semester of their freshman year are eligible to apply to participate in DMSF’s Summer Caddie Program. Returning scholars who
have maintained a cumulative DMSF grade point average of at least 3.0 during their high school career are eligible to re-apply to participate in DMSF’s Summer Caddie Program.

Objective: Preparing Murphy Scholars to be independent young leaders by growing their time management skills, networking skills and communication skills, and to be strong candidates for the Chick Evans Caddie Scholarship upon successful program completion. This is a summer commitment and will include weekends and the option of overnight stays.

An international nonprofit that supports its members in teaching public speaking and leadership development in all aspects of personal and career development.

Objective: The purpose of this six week learning experience is to build effective listening and communication skills while understanding and formulating their own communication styles with the support of a member of the ToastMasters organization. Scholars will learn how to incorporate advocacy and leadership while nurturing their speaking presence in front of a group. This group will meet once a week.

Scholars will have the opportunity to hear from a variety of leaders within a number of career fields as they discuss their leadership and how it plays out in their work. Each quarter, there will be a new speaker that takes the Scholars on a journey to evaluate their purpose, what drives them, and how who they are as a person is reflected in the way they lead in their work.

Objective: Scholars will attend three speaking sessions where they will learn about different career avenues, and the type of leadership that is essential to live the lives they ultimately deserve. There will be a final culminating event and project where scholars will reflect on their learning with each other, identify what they have learned about their leadership, and envision the type of leader they hope to be based on their engagement with the series.