The Dunnington Family Scholarship was created in 2021 by Luke and Urvi Dunnington to provide financial and practical resources for incoming students at the University of Virginia. Dunnington Scholarships can be renewed for up to four years, provided the recipient maintains a 2.5 or higher GPA and remains actively involved in the University Community.
Deadline: June 1
Amount: Varies
We know that getting into college doesn’t automatically provide a path to leverage your education into a career. That’s why the Skip Dunnington Scholarship is more than just helping you pay for college. We want to give you something even more valuable: connections and support that can help you understand, select, and succeed in a career.
What is Social Capital—and Why Does It Matter?
You might not have heard the term “social capital” before. In simple terms, social capital means the network of people you know who can help you out—whether that’s giving advice, introducing you to others, or opening doors to opportunities like internships and jobs.
Think of it this way: Some people grow up with family friends or relatives who work in all kinds of jobs and can help them get ahead. If you’re the first in your family to go to college, you might not have that network yet in the industries you want to pursue. We didn’t grow up well connected either, but through our Berkeley MBAs and our careers, we have now built a broad network of professional relationships that can be useful towards navigating your career:
How We Can Help You
As Dunnington Scholars, you’ll get more than just money for school. You’ll get:
- Advice on different careers: We’ll help you understand what jobs are really like and what it takes to get them, either from our own experiences or by connecting you with people in the industries you’re exploring.
- Help building your resume: We’ll connect you with companies who can offer internships or job shadowing.
- Professional skills: We are building programming that will teach you things like how to write a professional email, how to network, and how to prepare for interviews.
- Connections: We’ll introduce you to friends, colleagues, and business partners in many industries—people who want to help you succeed.
Who Should Apply?
If you had to look up what “social capital” means, you’re exactly who we want to work with! We’re looking for students who are not currently well connected professionally, but who are curious, bold, eager to grow, and ready to step a little outside their comfort zones to connect with us and access our social capital.
What We Expect from You
- An introduction Zoom call to get to know us and for us to get to know you and your interests
- A Zoom call each fall to share the companies or interests you’re targeting for the following summer, and for us to align on a plan to best support you
- We’ll likely come to Grounds once a year and can grab a coffee or have lunch
- If we introduce you to our friends, colleagues, or business relationships, please shoot us a note to let us know how the conversation went
- We’re a mentorship resource you can call on (but no obligation) for advice on careers decisions
Our Areas of Expertise
Our connections to companies is broad across many industries, but we can especially helpful to students interested in:
- Clean energy (like wind and solar power)
- Data centers and high-tech equipment
- Engineering (civil, mechanical, electrical)
- Entrepreneurship and starting your own business
- Non-profit leadership
- Investing in new clean technology
- Coffee (from growing to exporting)