WELCOME!
Welcome to the 2023 Rogers Explorers application page.
The 2023 application will not open until December 1, 2022. It will close on February 28, 2023.
Dates for the 2023 summer camps are as follows:
May 31-June 2 at Morehead State University
June 14-16 at Union College
June 21-23 at Lindsey Wilson College
July 17-19 at Eastern Kentucky University
University of the Cumberlands is still TBA
Eligibility:
To be eligible to apply, the student must:
- Be a current 8th grader.
- Live in a county located within The Center’s 45-county service area. The forty-five county service area consists of the following Kentucky counties: Adair, Bath, Bell, Boyd, Breathitt, Carter, Casey, Clay, Clinton, Cumberland, Elliott, Estill, Floyd, Garrard, Green, Harlan, Jackson, Jessamine, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Laurel, Lawrence, Lee, Leslie, Letcher, Lincoln, Magoffin, Martin, McCreary, Menifee, Metcalfe, Monroe, Morgan, Owsley, Perry, Pike, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Rowan, Russell, Taylor, Wayne, Whitley and Wolfe.
- Have a strong interest in developing skills in leadership, technology, math, science, and community service.
- Have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 (on a 4-point scale). If your GPA is less than 3.0, you may submit a letter from your guidance counselor explaining any special circumstances that may have affected your GPA and/or why you should be considered for the Rogers Explorers program regardless of your GPA.
Selection Process:
A selection committee consisting of staff from The Center for Rural Development will be established. In order to ensure fairness, applications will be blinded and applicant names removed prior to distributing copies to the selection committee. The committee will review and score all of the applications according to the criteria and point values established for each section. The top two applicants with the highest scores in each county will be selected as that county’s representatives. After those 90 selections are made, remaining students will be selected to fill any open spots. As a result, some counties will have more than two representatives.
All applicants remaining after the initial selection will be considered as alternates and will be ranked from the highest to lowest score. If a selected Explorer is unable to attend the program, alternates will be contacted in order of their rank until the open spot is filled. For this reason, all applicants are encouraged to keep the program dates and the possibility of selection in mind as they make their plans for the summer.
2023 Rogers Explorers Application – Opens December 1, 2022
The 2023 Application will be accessed solely through this website through several online forms, which are listed below. Application instructions will be included on each page at the links below.
For the 2023 Rogers Explorers Application, you will have to provide a Contact Information Form, Extracurriculars Form, Community Service Form, and Documents Form (Essay, Letters of Recommendation, Transcript). Read the information carefully, you will need before filling out each form. The forms cannot be saved and have to be filled out all at once. Once you are done with all four of the forms, you will fill out an Application Completion Form to indicate that you are done with your application.
Click Here to download the Application Checklist
Step 1. Contact Information Form:
For this form, you will need your basic contact information, t-shirt size, a non-school related email address (gmail, yahoo, etc.), mailing address, student phone number, parent phone number, school counselor’s name, and Grade Average. Make sure to have all of this information before you fill out the form.
Step 2. Extracurriculars Form: – 30 Points
For this form, you can list up to 30 different extracurricular activities, involvement in organizations, awards or honors you’ve received, etc. There are three different categories: Leadership, Technology, and Science and Math. You can list up to 10 items in each category for a total of 30 Points. It is recommended that you type the list out first in a word document prior to filling out the form. This way, you can just copy and past the information into the form ahead of time.
Step 3. Community Service Form: – 20 Points
For this form, you can list up to 20 items for community service. This can be anytime you’ve volunteered to do anything, helped someone out, or organized your own project. There are two different categories: School Related Activities and Non-School Related Activities. You can list up to 10 items in each category for a total of 20 Points.
Step 4. Documents Form: – 50 Points
For this form, you will have to upload all of your documents, which includes an Essay (45 Points), Grade Report (5 Points), and 3 Letters of Recommendation. The Letters are used as statements of character and are not worth any points. However, you will have 5 points deducted from your overall score for every letter you do not turn in. Click on the button below to learn more about how to prepare your documents.
- ESSAY – 45 Points
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD ESSAY PROMPT AND RUBRIC - TRANSCRIPT – 5 Points
You need to ask your high school counselor for your academic transcript. It needs to include your unweighted GPA (on a 4.0 Scale) and any advanced level courses. - LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION
You need three letters of recommendation. You need 2 from your school and 1 from the community. The letter writers cannot be related to you. If you do not submit letters, you will have points deducted for every missing letter.
Step 5. Application Completion Form:
When you are done with the application, click on the link below to let us know that you have completed all 4 forms.
Deadline is February 28, 2023