Travel Essay Scholarship Contest

How to Enter

Starting January 15, 2025, we are asking high school students to submit an essay about the benefits of travel for a chance to win a free spot on a Westcoast Connection program!

To enter, you must complete the application form, and answer the following question: What educational benefits and growth outcomes do teens experience through travel? Please include personal experiences or what you aspire to learn from travel.

The contest ends February 17, 2025 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Submit Your Essay

Winner Selection & Prizes

After careful review, one winner will be selected to receive a free spot on a WCC summer program (up to $5,000). We will also select four runner-ups who will each receive a $500 travel certificate valid towards the tuition of one of WCC’s summer programs.

All winners will be selected and notified by March 3, 2025.

Contest Details

Overview
Westcoast Connection Travel Camp, Inc. dba Westcoast Connection (“Westcoast Connection”, WCC” or “we”), invites high school students (“student”, “participant” or “you”) to use their written voices in an essay to say something meaningful about travel. The Westcoast Connection Travel Essay Scholarship Contest (‘Contest”) topic/prompt is: What educational benefits and growth outcomes do teens experience through travel? Please include personal experiences or what you aspire to learn from travel.

The deadline for all submissions is February 17, 2025. The First-Place scholarship winner will be awarded a travel certificate for one (1) free WCC program (maximum value of $5,000 USD). In addition, four (4) finalists will be awarded one (1) WCC travel certificate per finalist in the amount of $500 USD, valid towards the tuition of one of WCC’s summer 2025 programs.

Eligibility
The Contest is open to high school students currently in grades nine through twelve attending public, private, parochial, or home schools within the United States or Canada, void in Quebec and void where prohibited, with a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5 at the time of submission. Employees of Westcoast Connection and members of their families are not eligible to participate.

Applicants must:

• Be medically fit to travel and participate in the activities planned on the program.
• Be mentally and emotionally stable and prepared for the challenges and stresses that can come with travel.
• Commit to adhering to all safety policies and guidelines provided by Westcoast Connection.
• All criteria relevant to eligibility are determined by WCC.

Requirements

• All essays must be submitted electronically via the website link. One essay submission is allowed per applicant.
• All submissions open on January 15, 2025. The Contest deadline for submissions is February 17, 2025 at 11:59 PM (EST). WCC is not responsible for lost, late, misdirected, damaged, illegible, or incomplete submissions.
• Applicants must follow Westcoast Connection on Instagram @westcoastconnection.
• Include your current GPA with your essay submission.
• Essays must address the official essay topic/prompt – What educational benefits and growth outcomes do teens experience through travel? Please include personal experiences or what you aspire to learn from travel.
• Essays must be written in English and can be no more than 500 words but must be a minimum of 300 words.
• Essays must be the original work of the student. Failure to identify non-original or copyright material will result in disqualification. Essays may be checked for AI assistance and will be disqualified if AI is detected.

PLEASE NOTE: Any essay submission that does not meet the terms herein, including the Eligibility and Requirements, will be disqualified.

Judging
There will be one (1) First-Place scholarship winner and four (4) finalists chosen. The criteria for judging the essays includes, but is not limited to, how well the student addressed the topic/prompt, originality of work, quality of writing (style, clarity, vocabulary, grammar, syntax, spelling) and organization.

Decisions of the WCC judges are final. Winners will be notified by March 3, 2025, via the email provided with their essay submission. If the winner does not respond within five (5) business days, or email is returned as undeliverable, winner forfeits all right to the scholarship award, and an alternate winner will be chosen. Due to the number of entries received, only winners will be contacted with the results.

Scholarships Awarded
The First-Place scholarship winner will receive a travel certificate for one (1) free WCC program (maximum value of $5,000 USD). In addition, four (4) finalists will receive WCC travel certificates in the individual amount of $500 USD, valid towards the tuition of one of WCC’s summer programs. Scholarships are for WCC’s summer 2025 programs. WCC reserves the right to substitute scholarship awards of comparable or greater value in the event a scholarship award or any portion thereof becomes unavailable for any reason.

(1) free WCC program (maximum value of $5,000 USD)

For the recipient of the free WCC program, WCC will select the program and departure date with a maximum value of $5,000 USD. Included in this free program is all lodging, breakfast and dinner daily, recreation & entertainment listed, airport transfers in designated times, gratuities & taxes. All scholarship recipients are responsible for the cost of travel to and from the program, internal flights, lunches, snacks, personal spending money for souvenirs and laundry, travel insurance, taxes, fees and/or costs, including but not limited to, any federal or state or other income tax, associated with their scholarship awards. For clarity, the scholarship awards, including travel certificates, shall not be deemed “wages” or similar payment under any applicable law, and no participant (including any Contest winners) is or shall be deemed to become through participation in the Contest an employee or contractor of WCC. All scholarships are non-transferable, non-assignable and have no redeemable cash value.

(4) finalists will receive WCC travel certificates in the individual amount of $500 USD

You may select which program you want to enroll on, subject to availability. All scholarship recipients are responsible for the balance of tuition, cost of travel to and from the program, internal flights, lunches, snacks, personal spending money for souvenirs and laundry, travel insurance, taxes, fees and/or costs, including but not limited to, any federal or state or other income tax, associated with their scholarship awards. For clarity, the scholarship awards, including travel certificates, shall not be deemed “wages” or similar payment under any applicable law, and no participant (including any Contest winners) is or shall be deemed to become through participation in the Contest an employee or contractor of WCC. All scholarships are non-transferable, non-assignable and have no redeemable cash value.

Deadlines
Enrollment forms must be completed and submitted by April 15, 2025, including any balance due. Beyond this date, scholarships will no longer be valid and will be forfeited.

Use of Essay Submission Information
By submitting your essay, you agree that your essay becomes the property of WCC. WCC reserves the right to print and display the essays and photographs of the Contest winners and to use any and all information related to the Contest, including any submission provided by the student, for editorial, marketing and any other purpose, unless prohibited by law. Participants hereby grant WCC a non-exclusive, perpetual, worldwide license to broadcast, publish, store, reproduce, distribute, syndicate, and otherwise use and exhibit the submission (along with their names, voices, performance and/or likenesses) in all media now known and later come into being for purposes of trade or advertising without further compensation. Where practicable, the essay will be attributed to the author. Students represent and warrant that they have full legal right, power and authority to grant WCC the foregoing license and if applicable, have secured all necessary rights from any participants in, and contributors to, their submission in order to grant such a license. WCC is under no obligation to use any submission or return the submission to the student.

Personal Information
Other than your entry into the Contest, or as otherwise communicated to you by WCC in writing, we do not ask for, nor do we wish to receive, any personal, confidential, secret, or proprietary information or other material from you. You may not provide any personally identifiable information to us, whether with your submission to the Contest or otherwise, except as set forth herein or unless we otherwise mutually agree in writing (and if you are under 18, even then only with the prior written consent of your parent or legal guardian). With respect to any information that you submit (or your parent or legal guardian submits) as part of or in connection with a submission to the Contest or otherwise related solely to the Contest.

Limitations of Liability and Release
By entering, each participant agrees to: (a) comply with and be bound by the aforementioned terms and the decisions of WCC, which are binding and final in all matters relating to this Contest; (b) release and hold harmless WCC, and its subsidiaries, and affiliated companies, participating sponsors, and any other organizations responsible for sponsoring, fulfilling, administering, advertising or promoting the Contest, and each of their respective past and present officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives (collectively, the “Released Parties”) from and against any and all claims, expenses, and liability, including but not limited to, negligence and damages of any kind to persons and property, invasion of privacy (under appropriation, intrusion, public disclosure of private facts, false light in the public eye or other legal theory), defamation, slander, libel, violation of right of publicity, infringement of trademark, copyright or other intellectual property rights, property damage, or death or personal injury arising out of or relating in any way to a student’s submission and participation in the Contest, acceptance or use or misuse of scholarship awarded (including any travel or activity related thereto) and/or the broadcast, exploitation or use of submission; and (c) indemnify, defend and hold harmless the Released Parties from and against any and all claims, expenses, and liabilities (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to a participant’s submission in the Contest and/or participant’s acceptance, including potential plagiarism issues or legal disputes related to the content of the essay, and use, non-use or misuse of the scholarship awarded.

Further, WCC is not responsible for late, lost or misdirected email or for any computer, online, telephone or technical malfunctions that may occur. If for any reason, the Contest is not capable of running as planned, by reason of an Act of God, disease, epidemic, pandemic, quarantine, acts of government, infection by computer virus, worms, bugs, tampering, hacking, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, system overload or any other causes, whether discovered or suspected by WCC, which, in the sole opinion of WCC, does or could corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of this Contest, WCC may cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the Contest in WCC’s sole and absolute discretion.

WCC reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any individual it finds to be tampering with the submission process or the operation of the Contest or to be acting in violation of any of these terms. Any attempt by any person to deliberately undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest may be a violation of criminal and civil law, and should such an attempt be made, WCC reserves the right to seek damages from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law. WCC’s failure to enforce any of these terms shall not constitute a waiver of that provision.

Disputes
Participant agrees that: (i) any and all disputes, claims and causes of action arising out of or connected with this Contest, or any scholarships awarded, other than those concerning the administration of the Contest or the determination of the winner, shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action; disputes shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of New York. Any claims shall be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction located in New York. WCC shall not in any case be liable for other than compensatory damages, and your participation in the Contest means that you agree to these terms and conditions and expressly waive any right to punitive damages.

By submitting your essay, you acknowledge that you have read, understand and agree to these terms. All submissions to the Contest, including our acceptance and use of such submissions, are governed by the terms herein.