Paul Ahern Scholarship Application

ELIGIBILITY

Each applicant for the Security Industry Association's (SIA's) Paul Ahern Scholarship must meet all relevant requirements set forth below to be considered eligible as a scholarship recipient.

Each applicant must be either 1) a SIA student member or 2) an employee of a SIA member company.
Each student applicant must be enrolled in an accredited program offered by a trade or vocational school, or post-secondary degree program related to the security industry.
Each industry applicant must be a full-time employee of a SIA member company that is current on member dues, have worked for the employer for a minimum of six months at the time of the deadline and be in good standing within the employer organization. The designated SIA primary contact for a member company will verify eligible employees.
Current officers, directors and key employees of SIA and the immediate families of SIA officers, directors and key employees are not eligible to receive scholarships under the program.
Individuals who have received any scholarship awards from SIA within the previous three years are not eligible to receive scholarship funds under the program.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Each applicant must complete the application and include supporting documentation as described below.

Fill out the application form with accurate and up-to-date information.
Provide essay responses answering the following questions:
- Why have you chosen to apply for the Paul Ahern Scholarship? How will attending the SIA OSDP Bootcamp or other related course help you? (250 words minimum)
- What skills do you possess that make you a good candidate for this scholarship? Describe how these qualities and attributes will help you succeed in the technical field of security. (500 words minimum)
- Why is it important for the security industry to establish standards and device protocols for access control systems? (250 words minimum)
- Describe a time when you went above and beyond to create positive experience for a customer, colleague, or peer. What impact do you think this made? (250 words minimum)

Each applicant must submit a complete, signed application, together with all supporting documentation, including essays, by the deadline. The completion of the application form does not create an obligation on the part of SIA to award a scholarship to the applicant.

START APPLICATION

SCHOLARSHIP SELECTION COMMITTEE

The Scholarship Selection Committee (the “Committee”) will consist of volunteers from the OSDP Technical Subcommittee.

Committee members are volunteers and perform their duties without compensation, financial or otherwise. If the Committee is reviewing the application of an applicant who is an employee of the Committee member’s company, or if the Committee member is otherwise conflicted with respect to the applicant, the Committee member shall recuse himself or herself from all deliberation and voting regarding the applicant’s application.

SELECTION PROCESS

Only those applicants who meet the eligibility criteria and submit their completed applications and supporting documentation on or before the deadline (“qualified applications”) will be considered in the selection process.
It is the applicant’s responsibility to submit a complete and signed application, along with all the supporting documentation, which must be received on or before the deadline. The Committee accepts no responsibility for incomplete applications, applications not in proper form, lost applications or any other submissions not in compliance with these requirements or the instructions provided with the application.
The Selection Committee scrutinizes applications for the use of generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT in essay responses. Priority is given to responses that demonstrate original thought.
The Committee shall review each application and award points based on the applicant grading criteria set forth below. As noted above, a committee member with an actual or perceived conflict of interest with respect to any applicant shall not participate in the review or grading of that applicant’s application and supporting materials.
The scholarship award will be based on the Committee’s scores of the overall quality of the application and the scholarship essays. Applicants receiving the highest scores shall be awarded scholarships. In the case of a tie, the SIA CEO will make the final decision.
Scholarship selection shall be made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, national origin, disability, veteran status or any other category protected by federal, state or local law. Conversely, an applicant will not be selected solely based on one or more of the categories identified above.
The decision of the Committee is final and not subject to review.
All deliberations and decisions of the Committee shall be recorded in Committee meeting minutes, which shall be drafted contemporaneously with the review and decisions of the Committee.

APPLICATION GRADING CRITERIA

The following applicant grading criteria will be used by members of the Committee in reviewing applications and determining which applicants will be granted scholarships:

Grading Criteria	Score
Fulfilled all eligibility requirements	Up to 10 points
Essays	Up to 60 points
Applicability of the selected course(s) of study and/or correlation toward the stated career goal(s).	Up to 30 points
	Up to 100 points

Award Date

All applicants will be notified via email, regardless of whether selected as a recipient or not, by the award date regarding the status of their scholarship application.

Award Redemption

Each recipient must register for the SIA OSDP Boot Camp or other approved course within one year. SIA will pay the full amount of the course registration fee.