A group of young alumni from Missouri University of Science and Technology are offering a $500 scholarship to a student planning to attend Missouri S&T in the fall of 2014. Students wishing to be considered for the scholarship must apply by July 1.

The recipient of the Pursuit of Life Scholarship must demonstrate perseverance and ambition, and must have overcome adversity. Preference will be given to students who demonstrate passion in fulfilling their long-term goals and who can describe the strategy they plan to employ to reach those goals.

Funds for the scholarship were donated by a group of three alumni who call themselves Team Orion. Abdalla Bani, Tyler Martin and Fabrice Tine, who all earned bachelor of science degrees in aerospace engineering in 2013, formed a group in their senior design class, where they raised more money than needed for their project.

The alumni agreed that the best use of the leftover money would be to grant it to a student in need. The members of Team Orion have all faced personal trials to get to Missouri S&T and to graduate, so they are looking for students who have also overcome a difficult obstacle.

Abdalla Bani, a graduate student in mechanical engineering at Missouri S&T, relocated approximately 6,000 miles, from Tripoli, Libya, to attend school. While here, his homeland entered civil war and revolted against Muammar Gaddafi, leaving him to constantly worry about his family.

Fabrice Tine moved from his homeland of Périgny, France to attend Missouri S&T. He had to adjust to a new lifestyle and learn a new language.

Tyler Martin was homeless as a teenager. After working and saving money in high school, he realized he wanted to become an engineer and started his own personal training business to support his education.

“Looking back it seems reckless,” admits Martin, currently a system integration analyst at Accenture. “But as years went by, it wasn’t long before doors started opening because of my education that I never would have imagined.”

Interested high school seniors or current students who will attend Missouri S&T in the fall 2014 need to meet the following criteria and submit all required information to sfa@mst.edu by July 1.

Students must:

— present 2013 FAFSA EFC

— be a full-time student during the fall 2014 semester, either as an undergraduate or graduate student

— have a minimum 2.8 GPA

— submit a resume and unofficial transcript

— submit two essays with a 250-word limit. One should describe a time when the student had to overcome adversity and persevere, the other should describe life ambitions and dreams and how the student will attain them.