Pre-Season Scholarship Program

PTCF’s pre-season scholarship program is our primary scholarship opportunity which provides need-based scholarships for athletes on the Palisades Tahoe ski and snowboard teams.  The scholarship process is initiated around March of the preceding season and the application is open until for up to two months allowing athletes ample time to fill out the application.  PTCF works to provide decisions in advance of the first team registration deadline in June so that families can register for team at the lowest available price.  If granted a scholarship, an athlete will be mailed a check to the address provided on the application only once PTCF has received confirmation from Palisades Tahoe that such athlete registered for team for the upcoming season.

The pre-season scholarship is comprised of four different pieces:

• Athlete – The athlete portion of the application is the primary source of information on the application which includes questions regarding basic information about the athlete, which team the athlete participates on, the athlete’s past performance (competition and skills), and the athlete’s goals for the upcoming season, as well as a personal statement.  The purpose of this portion of the application is to provide the review committee with information on the athlete’s commitment to the sport and an understanding of what the sport means to the athlete.  We note that this portion is intended to be filled out entirely by the athlete and not by the athlete’s parent(s) or guardian(s) on behalf of the athlete.
• Parent / Guardian – The parent / guardian portion of the application is a separate form that asks a series of questions aimed at addressing financial need.  In addition to answering these questions, parents and guardians will have the ability to upload documentation evidencing the award of financial assistance from other institutions, which helps PTCF validate the need of the applicable athlete.  We encourage all parents and guardians to provide as much information as possible and as you feel comfortable sharing in order to give the review committee a clear picture of need.
• Coach Recommendation – The coach recommendation portion of the application allows the coaching staff to provide important feedback on the athlete’s coachability, work ethic and ability to function on a team.  This portion of the application will be emailed to your coach of choice using the Embark platform and you can track progress of the recommendation through the Embark platform in order to confirm that the recommendation was completed on time.  We encourage each athlete to follow up with your coach regularly and to request the recommendation from your coach well in advance of the application deadline in order to avoid having an incomplete application.  We note that if you are seeking a scholarship for your first season on a Palisades Tahoe ski or snowboard team, you can provide a recommendation from any other athletic coach, but encourage the use of a snow sports coach.
• Teacher Recommendation – The teacher recommendation portion of the application is used to ensure that each applicant is not sacrificing education in the pursuit of snow sports and asks similar questions to the coach recommendation section about the athlete’s teachability, work ethic and ability to get along with other classmates. This portion of the application will be emailed to your teacher of choice using the Embark platform and you can track progress of the recommendation through the Embark platform in order to confirm that the recommendation was completed on time.  We encourage each athlete to follow up with your teacher regularly and to request the recommendation from your teacher well in advance of the application deadline in order to avoid having an incomplete application.

Following the application deadline, the Embark platform closes and no further modifications to your application will be permitted.  PTCF encourages each athlete to ensure that the application is fully complete in advance of the deadline as we will not accept any modifications to the applications after that time.

Upon the closing of the Embark platform and the application, each application is redacted for anonymity purposes and then provided to the review committee for review and scoring.  The review committee is comprised of approximately five members, made up of a mix of board members and other community members.  Each application is reviewed by two reviewers and the scores are compared.  If the score with respect to any particular question varies dramatically between the two reviewers, the reviewers will meet to discuss the scoring rationale and a new score will be applied for that application.  The application is also designed to provide an objective review process, but we note that certain questions open-ended and the reviewers strive to review each response to such questions in a consistent and objective manner.

To the extent you have any questions on the scholarship process, please do not hesitate to reach out to contact@ptcommunityfoundation.org.  We will work to provide a response as quickly as possible and look forward to reviewing your application.