Tag Archives: scholarships

The Diabetes UnConference Scholarship Window Is Closing!

September 28, 2015 – 9:16 am

Here’s your friendly neighborhood reminder guy with a friendly diabetes neighborhood… reminder:

Time is running out for you to apply for a scholarship to the Diabetes Unconference in Las Vegas next March.

You must have your scholarship application in by September 30! That’s Wednesday, folks.
Un
If you’re reading this, you’re probably living with diabetes, or you have someone very close to you who is living with diabetes. That means you never, ever get a break from the physical, and yes, mental aspects of having to survive the highs and lows, the stigma, the relationship issues, and everything else that diabetes lays at your feet.

The Diabetes Unconference is the only gathering that brings diabetes experts together (that’s you) in a safe, supportive environment to talk through all of the psychosocial issues we deal with in our walk with this disease.

You will find people who understand, people who will help, people who will let you know you are not alone. Take it from me: That is worth its weight in gold.

To make it easier for some to attend this important meetup, there are a number of scholarships available. Let me take a moment and let you know about them (from the Diabetes Unconference website):

Those Who Love Us Scholarship (1 available)
Available for a caregiver – significant other, spouse, family member, it includes air travel to and from Las Vegas, Nevada from the recipient’s area, The Diabetes UnConference registration for recipient, and two (2) nights stay at The Flamingo Las Vegas, including taxes and resort fee. Recipient will attend the sessions for caregivers. The recipient cannot have diabetes.

Type 1 Scholarship (1 available)
Available for individuals who have Type 1 diabetes/MODY/other, it includes air travel to and from Las Vegas, Nevada from the recipient’s area, The Diabetes UnConference registration for recipient, and two (2) nights stay at The Flamingo Las Vegas, including taxes and resort fee.

Type 2 Scholarship (1 available)
Available for individuals who have Type 2 diabetes, it includes air travel to and from Las Vegas, Nevada from the recipient’s area, The Diabetes UnConference registration for recipient, and two (2) nights stay at The Flamingo Las Vegas, including taxes and resort fee.

Room Scholarships (2 available)
You must already be registered to attend The Diabetes UnConference to receive this scholarship and must attend the entire conference to receive two (2) nights stay at The Flamingo Las Vegas.
It includes two (2) nights stay at The Flamingo Las Vegas, including taxes and resort fee.

Even better news: There will be an Alumni Scholarship awarded to a first-time attendee to the Diabetes UnConference. Those of us who attended the initial UnConference this past March have pooled our money to offer another person the opportunity to become part of the alumni for the first time. If that makes any sense at all. Anyway, this will include air travel to and from Las Vegas (unless the recipient is close enough to drive), conference registration, and two (2) nights stay at The Flamingo Las Vegas. More on this scholarship at a later date.
 
 
Now… what do you have to do?

CLICK HERE and complete the short scholarship application. Do it right now, because the application window closes at the end of the day on September 30.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the Diabetes UnConference helped change a number of lives last year. It also helped create and sustain new and existing friendships. It was special in ways I still have trouble describing. But I feel it in my heart, so I know it’s true.

I would like it if you could be there too. If you think you’d like to go, and you want to apply for a scholarship… Act now. I hope to see you at The Flamingo Las Vegas in just a little over five(!) months.
 

By StephenS | Posted in Events, Uncategorized | Also tagged , | Comments (0)

Scholarships: The application window is beginning to close.

March 30, 2015 – 9:50 am

I’ve mentioned this a lot before, but I’m going there again. That’s because time, as they say, is of the essence. In other words, time is running short. This is very important if you have a desire to get to big diabetes events this year, but you can’t necessarily pay your own way.

Are you a procrastinator?

That’s okay, as long as you don’t procrastinate past Friday.

Diabetes Hands Foundation and Diabetes Advocates has their application process open for candidates to receive scholarships to diabetes events this year. But applications will only be accepted until 5:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (or 8:00 p.m. on the east coast) on April 3rd.

That’s this Friday, folks.

Scholarships will be awarded to cover travel, hotel, and conference registration for things like the American Diabetes Association’s 75th Annual Scientific Sessions, the two-day MasterLab advocacy workshop in July, the entire Friends For Life conference in July, and the American Association of Diabetes Educators conference in August.

Full disclosure: I received a scholarship to attend MasterLab last year, and it changed my life. I’m not applying for scholarships this year, so you have one less competitor!

DHF will award scholarships to advocates of all experience levels. Yes, that means you and me.

Let me say this again: You have until Friday to apply for these scholarships.

So… you need to do two things:

1) Take the Diabetes Advocates advocacy survey: CLICK HERE

2) Complete the application: CLICK HERE

To find out more about scholarships offered, and to get to these two links again, CLICK HERE. If you have any questions, e-mail the always helpful Mr. Mike Lawson and he will tell you everything you need to know.

Now is the time. The application window is closing. If you otherwise wouldn’t be able to go to one or more of these events, I urge you: Apply for a scholarship.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

More disclosure: As evidenced by the button in the left column of this page, I am proud to say that I am a member of Diabetes Advocates. I get nothing in return for sharing all of this with you, except the possibility that your life will be forever changed too. Apply now.
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Events | Also tagged , , | Comments (2)

Now is the time– Make an impact.

March 18, 2015 – 9:56 am

I have one piece of semi-big news for Type 2s today, and one very big reminder for Type Anythings…

First: Abbot Diabetes Care is going ahead with clinical trials of its Freestyle Libre system. Already available to People With Diabetes in Europe, it promises glucose monitoring without performing fingersticks. That’s a potential game changer for many PWDs. But there’s a lot more to it than that. For a super write-up on the Libre, check out this review from diaTribe.

Now Type 2s have the opportunity to take part in 14 day clinical trials of this device. Trials will be held in California, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, and Texas. So there might be one near you.

I’ve written many times about the importance of clinical trials, and the importance of your participation in trials. So consider taking part in this trial and helping to advance device options for others living with diabetes in the USA. For all the lowdown on the trials, CLICK HERE.

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Diabetes Hands Foundation and Diabetes Advocates sponsor MasterLab, the (now) two-day diabetes advocacy workshop happening July 7 and 8 at the Friends For Life conference in Orlando. DHF and DA are offering 19 scholarships to participants who are looking to get their advocacy on by attending this event. Scholarships include airfare to and from Orlando, hotel accommodations, and other considerations. I received a scholarship to attend MasterLab last year, and it made a huge impact on me. What I learned there helped me tremendously when I spoke at an FDA workshop later in the year.

This year I won’t be asking for a scholarship. So you already have one less competitor! But you must apply by April 3. To find out more about MasterLab and other scholarships available through Diabetes Hands Foundation, CLICK HERE. NOW.

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Very exciting stuff folks. I’m looking forward to hearing more about the Libre clinical trials and MasterLab from some of you. Please let me know if you take part, and what it does for you. Good luck!
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Clinical Trials, Events | Also tagged , , | Comments (1)

Scholarships! Get your red hot scholarships!

January 20, 2015 – 12:29 pm

This past Wednesday’s DSMA Twitter Chat was all about travel and diabetes. Actually, it turned out that travel and diabetes was part of it, and travel for diabetes was another part of it.

Anyway, one of our questions was:

Are you aware that there are groups who offer scholarships to attend diabetes events?

I was shocked to find out that many were not aware of this fact. That doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with those people. Rather, it means we, as a community, need to do a better job of letting people know about said scholarships and we need to do a better job of supporting those organizations who do award scholarships.

Every time a semi-big diabetes event occurs, or someone writes about their child with diabetes going away to a camp or something, a lot of hand-wringing goes on about who is there, and why, or how, they got there in the first place. Well, we get there a number of ways (and I realize I’m using “we” with a very big umbrella here). Sometimes these things are geographically close to us. Or we actually, you know, save our money so we can afford to get there. Some events are invitation-only and travel is paid for those who attend. And yes, sometimes, we receive scholarships.

I can’t do anything about those first three things. But as far as the scholarships are concerned: I can let you know about them, and then it’s up to you to either apply for them or not. And if you have a desire to go, and you can’t quite fit it into your budget, why wouldn’t you apply?

This is my attempt to give you a rundown of the scholarship opportunities I know about right now. This is not a comprehensive list, but it’s a start, and if you know of additional resources, please leave a comment below or send me an e-mail and I’ll add them. Some of these are actual scholarships to college for kids with diabetes, and some are scholarships that will help you or your child attend a diabetes event that you might not otherwise be able to travel to.

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First, let me tell you about the amazing work of Diabetes Scholars. Since 2004, the non-profit Diabetes Scholars Foundation has provided scholarships for over 3,000 families to attend the big diabetes meetup of the year, Children With Diabetes Friends for Life conference in Orlando. Many of these families would not be able to go without the assistance of Diabetes Scholars. Diabetes Scholars also provides college scholarships to high school seniors looking to further their education. Get all the details on scholarship opportunities and the application process at
diabetesscholars.org.
 
 
Speaking of college, College Diabetes Network has a terrific list of college scholarships available throughout the USA. These are scholarships that are available from a number of sources, but this page contains a brief description of each scholarship opportunity and a link to its source:
https://collegediabetesnetwork.org/content/scholarships
 
 
Diabetes Hands Foundation and Diabetes Advocates: These two non-profit orgs (DA is a group of, well, diabetes advocates under the DHF umbrella) provide scholarships to a variety of D-conferences throughout the year, including the annual American Association of Diabetes Educators conference, American Diabetes Association’s Scientific Sessions, and Friends for Life. In addition, they created one day scholarships to attend MasterLab, a one-day advocacy workshop at FFL last year, and my guess is they will do the same this year (though I have no inside knowledge). To look into scholarship opportunities, start at
diabeteshandsfoundation.org.
Disclosure: I received a scholarship from Diabetes Advocates to attend MasterLab last year. More about that in a minute.
 
 
The American Diabetes Association, in addition to support received from corporate sponsors (thank you Eli Lilly), helps to provide “camperships” for kids to attend diabetes camps across America. The process is pretty simple, and it’s spelled out at
http://www.diabetes.org/in-my-community/diabetes-camp/financial-assistance.html
 
 
The always-inspiring Team Type 1 Foundation works to provide help, hope, and awesome examples of athletes with Type 1 diabetes making a positive influence on the world. They also provide college scholarships to Type 1 athletes competing at NCAA and NAIA institutions. Their scholarship page has all the information, including requirements:
http://teamtype1.org/gasp/

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That’s the list so far. I know there are many, many more scholarship opportunities out there, but I just haven’t found them yet. Again, if you know about something not mentioned here, leave me a comment or an e-mail, and I’ll add it to the list.

One other thing, and this is personal, so feel free to ignore the rest of this post: As I mentioned above, I received a scholarship to attend MasterLab last year. A couple of months later (or maybe I just noticed it a couple of months later), I read a few things about a person or persons who were unhappy, and felt like the same people are always getting to go to important diabetes events. Well, I felt horrible about that. This was the only thing I’ve ever been given (other than an invitation) to attend a diabetes event. But since then, I’ve wondered if, by accepting a scholarship to attend, I was denying someone else’s opportunity.

So this year, I’m not applying for any scholarships. If I can afford to go to something, I will. If I cannot, I won’t, and I won’t worry about it. This is my decision, and my decision alone, and I doubt it will have any real impact at all. After all, I’m not exactly giving up something I’ve already been granted. And I can’t say that I’ll always feel this way. Each year carries its own concerns and priorities, and I may go back and apply for scholarships in 2016. But for this year, if you want to apply for a scholarship, know that you have one less competitor.

That doesn’t mean I’ll be completely absent from everything this year. I get a lot out of going to diabetes events… I learn a lot, which is something I feel I need, and I can’t discount the interaction that goes on among people I can call friends now. But hopefully, those people are still my friends whether I’m there in person or not. And the fact is, I don’t really attend a lot in person anyway, and a lot has been done over the past couple of years to help get content online for people who aren’t able to attend something in person. In the end, I have an admitted desire to go to everything I can get to. But if I don’t make it this year, it’s not the end of the world.

You? You should go. Educate yourself. Meet people. Form bonds. Ramp up your advocacy. And if you need a little help to get there, always be on the lookout for scholarship opportunities.
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Events | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (2)

UnConference Scholarships: This is your last chance to apply.

September 30, 2014 – 9:01 am

Here’s your final reminder: Applications for scholarship opportunities to attend the Diabetes UnConference can be submitted through today.
 
 
Christel Marchand Aprigliano of ThePerfectD dreamed up this conference where diabetes peers of all types, from all over, will get together and actually set the agenda in the first hour of the conference. Actual adults living with diabetes will be asking and answering questions all throughout the weekend. There will be tons of information gathering, support, and encouragement from Friday, March 13 through Sunday, March 15 of next year. I don’t know if anything like this has been done before, and I’m pretty excited about it.
 
 
The best part is, you (yes, you) have an opportunity to get a scholarship that will pay for your travel and accommodations at the Flamingo Las Vegas, and pay for your registration to the conference too. There are scholarships for Type 1, Type 2, a Medicare recipient, and room scholarships that will pay for your hotel only. The application process is simple, quick, and easy. Have you been wanting to attend a diabetes event but haven’t had the space in your budget to fit it in? Here’s your chance… but only if you get your application in today. Click on this link and get started:
http://diabetesunconference.com/scholarships-for-the-diabetes-unconference-2015/
 
 
Scholarships were made available through sponsors of the event and The Diabetes Collective, Inc., a Florida not-for-profit corporation. I have no affiliation with the sponsors or The Diabetes Collective, Inc., and I am not being compensated in any way for talking about this here. I just want you to be able to be there next March!
 
 
If you’d really like to attend a diabetes conference by People With Diabetes, for People With Diabetes, this just might be for you. Find out more about the Diabetes UnConference and register by going to:
diabetesunconference.com
 
 
 

By StephenS | Posted in Events | Also tagged , | Comments (0)
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