College scholarship recognizes academic achievement and service
The Nebraska Society of Mayflower Descendants is proud to offer the Whedon Memorial Scholarship, named in honor of Becky (Allen) and Burt Whedon in the amount of $1620. Becky joined our Nebraska Society in 1982, a descendant of Pilgrim Francis Cooke, as well as Pilgrim Richard Warren. Becky served as our Society’s historian for 18 years, from 1989 to 2007, completing applications for 167 members. Burt joined the Nebraska Society in 1977, a descendant of John Howland, as well as William Brewster. The Whedon’s served the Society as Deputy Governor General and Assistant General for many years, traveling to Plymouth for Mayflower General Congress and to annual Board of Assistants meetings around the country. Becky died in Omaha on January 16, 2011, at the age of 84. Burt died in Omaha on April 27, 2011, at the age of 88.
In order to be eligible, scholarship applicants must:
- Be a citizen of the United States and reside in Nebraska.
- Be a high school senior planning to attend an accredited 4 year college or university.
- Complete the application in its entirety, including relevant personal information, essays, and bibliography by March 15, 2025
- Agree to write an original essay without the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The application includes questions about the applicant and their goals, as well as an essay related to the Mayflower Compact. The essay must be written in the applicants own words . When using a secondary source, it must be properly cited and referenced in the bibliography. All applications will be scored using a point system totaling no more than 100 points. The following criteria will be used to score the applications:
- Introduction – details, organization (15 points)
- Goals- college plans, career plans (15 points)
- Spelling/Grammar (10 points)
- Organization of content- flow of ideas and tying information together (10 points)
- Personal examples- relevance to compact, clearly defined, incorporation into essay (20 points)
- Significance of Compact- historical facts, relevance to today, clear connection to personal examples (20 points)
- Bibliography- evidence of research, relevant to essay (10 points)
Applications will be accepted though March 15, 2025 and can be found here:
2025 Whedon Memorial Scholarship Application
2024 Scholarship Recipient & Essay
2023 Scholarship Recipient & Essay
2022 Scholarship Recipient & Essay
2021 Scholarship Recipient & Essay
2020 No scholarship awarded
2019 Scholarship Recipient & Essay
2018 Scholarship Recipient & Essay
2017 Scholarship Recipient & Essay
2016 Scholarship Recipient & Essay
2015 Scholarship Recipient & Essay