Koshland Young Leader Awards

Competitive candidates must:

• be a junior in a San Francisco Unified School District High School 

• have demonstrated academic excellence (at least a weighted 3.4 GPA) and be college/junior college – bound. 

• have demonstrated significant leadership in their community, school, work, and/or home including active participation in school clubs, sports, volunteer work, paid work, religious community, college prep programming, family responsibilities, etc. 

• have overcome significant hardship (e.g., unstable housing, non-native English speaker, economic insecurity, health or mental health issues, immigrant story, family situation, etc.) 

• have a recommendation from a teacher, counselor, school administrator, employer, clergy or college prep program staff who can speak to your qualifications. The recommendation should not be from a relative. See our Guidelines on choosing a recommender HERE.

Tax ID or Social Security Number (SSN) are not required to apply. However, if selected, the student will need to provide either a Tax ID or SSN.

You can use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help you think and polish, but everything meaningful must come from you—your ideas, your story, your voice.  See our AI Guidelines HERE.

February 9, 2026: Student applications are open for the 2026 Koshland Young Leader Awards.

April 9, 2026: Applications are due. 

Late May 2026: San Francisco Foundation notifies all 2026 Koshland Young Leader Award winners.

June 2026: Event to celebrate the 2026 awardees.

Please complete the application via Submittable by 11:59 pm PT on April 9, 2026. Late and/or incomplete applications will not be considered. The following elements are required: 

• Transcript – Your most recent transcript that includes your Fall 2025 semester grades (unofficial or official). 

• Reference Form 

• Consent and Release of Liability Form 

• List of Leadership Activities 

• Application Video – We want to learn about you and your story! Please record one video of yourself answering all four of the video application questions listed below. If a video recording is not possible and you prefer to submit a written version, please contact Mayra Roman at scholarships[at]sff.org.

Video Requirements: 

• The video must not be longer than eight (8) minutes. 

• The video must be recorded in English.  

• There is a file upload size limit of 400mb. To keep your video below the limit, consider reducing the resolution to 1080p or 720p (click here for tips). For the frame rate, use 24 fps instead of 30 fps.

Video Tips

• Video can be recorded on your phone or laptop. There is no need for fancy editing or to create a high-production value video. We recommend watching this video for recording tips. 

• If you are unable to record in a private, quiet space or are concerned about the sound quality of your recording, we suggest using closed captioning. 

Please begin your video with this introduction: 

“My name is ____________. I am a Junior at ______________high school in San Francisco.”

1. What are you most excited about learning, pursuing, or achieving in college and/or career?
2. Describe challenges you faced that have affected your life, family and/or schooling and how you overcame them. 
3. Describe a specific example of a time when you challenged yourself to succeed academically and took advantage of academic resources at school and/or outside of school.
4. Choose one of the examples on your leadership activity list and elaborate to describe a specific situation where you demonstrated strong leadership. What did you learn about leadership through this experience?

2025 Koshland Young Leader Award Winners

2024 Koshland Young Leader Award Winners

2023 Koshland Young Leader Award Winners

2022 Koshland Young Leader Award Winners

2021 Koshland Young Leader Award Winners