Program Scholarship

“As a nineteen-year-old-young man, Zdeněk Bakala had to leave communist Czechoslovakia for the United States to receive a quality education in a free country. Having left with only a couple dollars on him, he had to work hard to cover the costs of his education. Nowadays talented Czech students do not need to emigrate from their home country to pursue a first-class education abroad. However, it still remains that a good education is an investment one has to pay for with hard work. If you have the courage and talent this investment demands, the Zdeněk Bakala Foundation can help you realize your potential.”

We'll give you the wings. It's up to you to fly.

The Zdeněk Bakala Foundation’s SCHOLARSHIP program is about giving talented and driven students the support they need to make their dreams come true. We give scholarships to young people who are looking for an academic experience that will enrich them intellectually and propel them towards achieving their goals. The Foundation supports students who want more from studying abroad than language immersion and cultural exchange – we look for students who don’t just want to experience; they want to accomplish.

We aim to find the most ambitious and accomplished students, those who constantly strive to reach their goals – which include being educated by the best in their field. While university rankings may inform our decision, as universities don’t rank highly without reason, we aren’t here only to give straight-A students access to the Ivy League. Instead, we expect students to assess both their strengths and ambitions to find the program that would best foster their intellectual and personal growth. Ultimately, we are here to help our students reach their goals.

Much of the financial aid we provide goes to high school students endeavoring to make their undergraduate education as challenging (and rewarding) as possible. We also give scholarships to ambitious university graduates looking to advance even further by means of a top-notch graduate program.

The selected students are not simply given a partial scholarship and left to fend for themselves later. Instead, we provide support for the duration of the program, making us unique among scholarship foundations. At the end of each academic year, scholarship recipients must demonstrate that they are working hard to make the most of their opportunity. As long as they’re moving towards their goals, their academic achievement won’t be cut short just because of money.

Our mission is to give intelligent, determined young people the opportunity to better themselves academically and, in turn, to achieve their goals, so we do not attach specific requirements to the support we give. However, because being actively engaged with the community reflects qualities we look for in our applicants, we do hope that scholarship recipients will choose to do charity work not only while at university, but for the rest of their lives.

If you’re up to the challenge, send your application by June 15, 2012. Don’t worry that your plans aren’t yet set in stone – scholarship recipients are selected before completing their university applications. We even have a student adviser available to help applicants, particularly the younger ones, select the right program. Applicants will receive the results of the preliminary selection and the schedule for personal interviews by September 6, 2012.