Students of Integrity Scholarship

BBB Wisconsin awards up to 10 students with a $2,500 scholarship each. Two of the scholarships are designated for students attending technical colleges or trades programs, and two of the scholarships are designated for students in the Milwaukee Public School District.

Of course! Rather than focusing solely on academics, this scholarship awards students for their integrity. Students with GPAs 3.0 or higher, or those who show evidence of progress over time, are still encouraged to apply.

Great question! BBB will handle mailing the $2,500 scholarship funds directly to your college of choice. This ensures the scholarship funds are secure and fully applied to your tuition.

Scholarship recipients will be notified no later than April. Once the recipients are confirmed, we will alert non-recipients, likely before the end of April.

For our 2027 scholarships, the student application and both letters of reference are due Monday, February 1, 2027 by 12:00pm. 

We will not accept any applications or letters of reference past the deadline. We encourage you to start your application early so that the individuals writing your letters of reference are notified with enough time to submit their letters before the deadline.

Applications are assessed by an independent judging panel using the following scoring model:

• Essay (60%)

• Letters of Reference (20%)

• Community Involvement (10%)

• Academic (5%)

• First Generation College Attendee (5%)

In order for your application to be complete, you must provide the following materials:

• School transcript

• Personal essay addressing the essay prompt

• 2 letters of reference from people who are not related to you

Essay Prompt: Describe a unique situation where your moral convictions and personal ethics were challenged, and you made a difficult decision because it was the right thing to do, despite the potential consequences. 

In your response, you should address: 

• How you reached your decision and what the outcome was. 

• What this situation taught you. 

• Who or what has influenced the development of your integrity. 

Your essay is the most heavily weighted part of your application. To score well, choose a distinct, personal story and proofread your work carefully before submitting. Avoid generic, cliché examples (like choosing not to cheat on a test) unless you have a truly unique perspective. Evaluators want to hear a personal, original story that demonstrates strong reflection and clear organization. 

AI Policy & Originality Notice

The BBB Students of Integrity Scholarship evaluates your personal voice, judgment and lived experience. Your written essay or the content of your audio or video response must be created by you.

Permitted: Basic spelling and grammar corrections that do not generate or substantially rewrite content; speech-to-text and other accessibility tools; and general feedback from a teacher, counselor or trusted adult, provided that person does not write or rewrite your response.

Not permitted: Using generative AI to choose or invent your story, create an outline, draft language, expand your response or substantially rewrite any part of it. Another person may not write or rewrite your response for you.

By submitting your application, you certify that your response is your own original work. Suspected violations will be reviewed and may result in disqualification. BBB will not disqualify an applicant based solely on the result of an automated AI-detection tool.

Your essay will be scored based on the following criteria:

• The student's understanding of integrity (12pts)

• The structure of the essay (12pts)

• The relevance of the essay (12pts)

• The essay correctly answers the questions (12pts)

• The originality of the essay (12pts)

60 total points (60% of the application)

Be sure to avoid cliche examples such as cheating unless you have a unique take on the dilemma.

Once you complete the letters of reference segment of your application, an automated request will be emailed to your references from [email protected]. Please let your references know to look for it or check their spam folders.

If they are still not seeing the email, get in touch with us at [email protected] and we can manually email a letter of reference request to your reference. Please be sure to do so far in advance.