Center for the Advancement of Well-Being

Elena’s Scholarships for Student Well-Being

The application period for the 2024-2025 academic year has passed. Winners will be notified by August 12, 2024.

Elena Prien
Elena Prien – Photo by Penny Gilchrist

Elena Prien, a graduate of George Mason University, endowed undergraduate student scholarships to enhance students’ well-being. These scholarships will be awarded to students whose lives can benefit from resources to support their well-being in various domains (psychological, emotional, social, purpose, community, and physical, as a few examples). Elena’s Scholarships are open to full-time, undergraduate students from all academic majors. Priority will be given to applicants who are just beginning their intentional efforts to cultivate well-being. This is a program for personal well-being mentoring, plus a financial scholarship. Applicants should be willing and able to participate in one-on-one mentoring with a faculty or staff person with expertise in well-being. Mentoring will take place about once every three weeks during the fall semester and then monthly during the spring semester. In addition, scholarship winners receive a financial award of $1,000 – with $500 credited to their account on the first day of class for the fall semester, and another $500 at the beginning of February for the spring semester (contingent upon successful participation in the mentoring for the fall semester). Individual mentoring is a key component of this program, and award winners will be assigned a skilled mentor from among the Mason faculty and staff who are committed to well-being. The well-being mentors will be available to meet with students to support their learning and growth. The mentoring program intends to guide scholarship recipients in their journey to reach higher levels of well-being in their lives – that is, greater meaning and purpose, resilience, vitality, and engagement.

The $1,000 scholarship will be made available in each recipient’s Mason student account, in two parts as described above. The scholarship funds can be used for tuition, fees, and/or room and board at George Mason University. Eligible students are full-time students who are sophomores, juniors or seniors for the entire academic year and have a minimum overall 2.0 GPA or higher when they apply. Applicants are encouraged to read more about well-being as they formulate their answers to the application questions. You can learn more about Elena Prien in this article.

Read about the well-being benefits of mentoring in the Thriving Together Series articles here and here.

Learn more about the scholarship mentors and mentees in this video: