Podcast Summary:
Paying for college can feel overwhelming, but scholarships may be closer—and more achievable—than you think. In this Blind Abilities episode, Joshua Olukanni shares his journey from high school to graduate studies at Georgetown University, and how scholarships helped him pursue college with far less debt. Joshua explains what scholarships really are, why there’s one for nearly everyone, and how applying can offer a higher return on your time than a part-time job. He walks listeners through getting organized, using tools like spreadsheets to track deadlines, and seeking feedback to strengthen essays and applications. Joshua also highlights the role State Services for the Blind played by sharing opportunities and supporting his goals. His message to high school students is clear: stay humble, stay organized, ask for help, and apply widely. A few focused hours can change your financial future—and reduce stress for years to come.
To find out more about the services provided at State Services for the Blind, and what they can do for you, contact Shane DeSantis at shane.desantis@state.mn.us or call Shane at 651-385-5205.
Jeff:
Today’s conversation is part of a two-episode Blind Abilities series on scholarships. In the companion episode, you’ll hear another student’s real-world experience with searching, applying, and staying motivated through the scholarship process.
Two different journeys, one shared goal—helping you prepare for college and take your next steps with confidence.
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Joshua:
I think it makes sense to put as many applications in as you need.
After I’ve kind of crafted and honed in my ability to apply scholarships and my want to make it more efficient, I’ve started to build out Excel sheets.
One thing that SSB is good at is providing information, and if my counselor should see a scholarship she’d send it my way.
Please guys, go out there and apply for scholarships.
Jeff: Welcome to Blind Abilities. I’m Geoff Thompson. Today in the studio we’re going to be talking about scholarships and all the way from Washington, D.C., we have Joshua Olukanni. Joshua, welcome to Blind Abilities.
Joshua: Thank you for having me. I’m excited for this conversation.
Jeff: I’m glad to have you. And thanks for taking the time out of your day to do this interview. Joshua, why don’t you give us a little introduction and where are you going? To college. And what are you studying?
Joshua: Yeah. So my name is Joshua Olukanni, I was born and raised in Lawrenceville, Georgia, and I spent the first 18 years of my life there, and then I moved up to Minnesota. I spent five years of my life there. I went to a training center that was in Minnesota at the time called Blind Incorporated. After that, I started attending the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, where I majored in human resource development. And following that, I got accepted into Georgetown University. And that’s where I’m at now, getting my Master of Science in finance. I’m here in D.C..
Jeff: Well, good for you. That’s got to be exciting. Joshua, thinking back all the way to high school, what were your biggest concerns when you thought about how were you going to pay for college?
Joshua: Yeah, 100%. Affording college has always been something that has been on my mind just because for me, unfortunately, I grew up in a low income household, so I knew that I didn’t want to go into debt. That was always one of my goals. So I constantly sought out opportunities to ensure that I would need to take out student loans. And that is where I was able to learn a lot about the tuition waiver at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and find out about a whole bunch of scholarship opportunities that I’m sure we’ll be diving into as this conversation progresses.
Jeff: Well, let’s dive right in, Joshua. For students who may be hearing this term for the first time, what exactly is a scholarship?
Joshua: Yeah, 100%. So I always tell everyone that there is a scholarship for you, because as long as you are a human being with any type of characteristics at all, there’s something out there for you. I’ve literally seen scholarships for people who are left handed, and I tell people this all the time because it honestly has made a monumental change in my life. For me, I’m a Nigerian American blind person and just searching these things up, I find so many different scholarships that are available and for varying amounts that like ultimately go towards paying for your education and the ability to get a return on investment for sitting down for maybe a few hours. Filling out a scholarship to me is a way higher return comparatively to getting a part time job. Not necessarily saying that part time jobs aren’t valuable, but just to think about it, and, put it in perspective, through a couple hours of work, you can get a $10,000 scholarship check right now to you, and that is some of the great scholarships or some of the great opportunities I have been able to receive through, like understanding the scholarships that are out there and doing a lot of research on them. So I hope that gives you a little synopsis of what they are and how you can find them.
Jeff: You mentioned research, now, Joshua, back in the beginning. How did you first begin your research when looking for scholarship opportunities?
Joshua: I progressively became more organized as I learned the quantity of scholarships that are out there and available. Initially, I was very lackadaisical with it. I would just kind of search up whatever my friends told me about and apply to those. And that worked because it kind of got me a taste of like, okay, if I do this and do it well, I can get this amount of money and it can help me pay down whatever I need to pay down for that pertains to college. But after I’ve kind of crafted and honed in my ability to apply scholarships and my want to make it more efficient, I’ve started to build out Excel sheets where like I have the name of the scholarship, the due date of scholarship, the amount, just different details and like amount of recommendation letters that I need. And this way, like I’m ready to ask people that I need to ask for help on the recommendation end, and I know what I need to put out in terms of on my end, in terms of essays, to really make sure that I turn in good quality work and set myself up as good as I can to maximize my chance of getting scholarship.
Jeff: Joshua, earlier you mentioned that there is probably a scholarship out there for any human being, but were you surprised to find out that there were specific scholarships for people who are blind or visually impaired or, you know, with disabilities?
Joshua: I think it’s because growing up, I’ve always heard about scholarships in reference to athletes, right. Like, oh, this person got a full ride scholarship, or they just signed with X, Y, Z school. And so I’ve always heard it in that context. And hearing it outside of the context of athletes was something that was super novel to me. And when I began to become a part of the various blindness communities that are out there and different students my age started telling me about the scholarships that they were applying to and how I should do it as well, and he was very helpful for them. It really opened my eyes to seeing the amount of scholarships that are available for the blind and visually impaired community. I think from then I just started to broaden my perspective on what’s available.
Jeff: Now in the application process. When you got going on that, I’m sure like you said, it got easier once you got your feet wet. What did you find was the hardest part, and what did you find out was surprisingly easier than you expected.
Joshua: For me, I’m a people person, so asking people to help me out has always been something that I felt more comfortable than the person next to me. Reaching out, asking people for recommendation letters that like I’ve done work with or done internships with, or whatever context it is like I’ve always felt more comfortable doing that. I think for me, I’ve always not necessarily been the greatest writer. So whenever I write something and show it to my friends, my friends are way, way better writers than I am. They’d be like, okay, like, you know, let’s go through this. And then they end up advising that I change like a lot of different things. I’m like, oh man, this is crazy. So like, I feel like I really struggled with the essay component of these applications. But I think once you are willing to receive feedback from the people who care in your life, and you’re able to identify those people who are able to really help you and maximize your chances. Because not everyone, unfortunately, is, you know, great at writing or knows how to tell a story to maximize your chances. But once you’ve identified those people in your life and like can get them to help you, it’s honestly a game changer. And you honestly might be one of those people who are really good at just putting a mean essay together. And that is a skill that’s really coveted in this process.
Jeff: Joshua, I’m glad you’re sharing that, because when you get good mentorship or tutoring. Over time, you start to pick up on it yourself. It helps you grow as a writer.
Joshua: 100% 100%.
Jeff: Joshua. It seems like you got a lot of experience with scholarships and the ways that you go about the processes, and this is great information. Is it okay to apply for multiple scholarships at the same time?
Joshua: Yeah, I think for me, you always want to make the math make sense. And I think it makes sense to put as many applications in as you need to not only clear whatever it is that you need to pay off for like college, but like come out a little bit above that amount. So like, you know, for me, applying to Georgetown and seeing the cost of tuition, I quickly had to do some like mental math and be like, okay, like, you know, let’s just say I don’t get half of these scholarships, like which is very much possible and like you need to be realistic, right. Like. Like would I still be in a good spot? And if that’s the case, you know, that’s like that’s the type of math you want to be like doing. And you know, um, really, really put in effort into the, the ones that like, you feel like could get you to the finish line of where you need to go. And this is, this is where the importance of being very organized in the process comes from, especially on my end, because, like, there’s just a lot going on in your life outside of the scholarship process processes and, you know, having something that you can quickly pull up, be like, okay, this due date is February 14th and the amount is $10,000, but this one is February 16th and it’s $28,000. You know, priorities become very essential part of it, especially knowing that, like, you might not ever, um, you might not be able to accomplish everything that you have on your scholarship list or in your head, but it’s very helpful to, you know, map these things out and have backup plans.
Jeff: And that map that you accumulate, you can use next year as this time period comes around again when you’re applying for more scholarships.
Joshua: That’s exactly what I’m doing right now. To me, like once January hits, it becomes scholarship season, at least with the scholarships that I typically apply to. A lot of them open. So I literally just pulled up my Excel spreadsheet from last year and dust that off. And now it’s becoming, you know, a skeleton to what can be very helpful moving forward. Obviously things need to be updated, but generally a lot of the things are the same.
Jeff: Mhm. Now here’s a question. How did state Services for the blind help you along in your scholarship journey.
Joshua: Yeah. So I think that SSB is a very amazing institution. I don’t have enough words in my vocabulary to express how great this organization is and how instrumental they’ve been in helping me and all the other blind students in the state of Minnesota. One thing that SSB is good at is providing information, and my counselor in particular, whenever she’d see a scholarship, she’d send it my way and be like, oh, like, because we had multiple conversations already pertaining to my goal of like, getting through debt free and like really looking for scholarships and applying like crazy. So whenever she’d see something, she’d send it my way. I think having that relationship with your counselor and having those open conversations of like, what you’re trying to do and the goals that you’re really shooting for, I think can be very salient. And allowing them to curate information for you whenever they see big opportunities or big things that come by their desk.
Jeff: That’s great. What advice would you give to a high school student who might think that scholarships aren’t for them, like you said? Not everyone’s an athlete going for a full ride, right?
Joshua: 100%. Not everyone is an athlete, and I would ask those to reframe their perspective just because it saves you a lot of work in the long term. I hate to continue to emphasize this point, but it’s so important. The return on investment in terms of like time that you get back and like time that you don’t have to spend at a part time job is way higher. The return on investment is so much higher in applying to a scholarship and putting in a good quality effort, because you can work at a part time job for a full semester and not make what you could off of just applying to one scholarship. And that’s not even considering the fact that if you get like multiple scholarships and the amount of time like net total that like you spend sitting down, like looking into what scholarships are available, finding out the information that you need for these scholarships, recommendation letter, transcript, resume like essay. By the time you get all that together, you know, let’s just say you spend like, let’s highball it and say you spend a whole eight hours, you know, getting all that together and into pristine condition. Total like it can be spread out over like however long eight hours like you have essentially made more in that like one work day than you would have working a part time job and working eight hours over the course of two days and getting paid minimum wage. I feel very strongly about this just because it has changed my life substantially, and I think it has the power to change other people’s lives and in the long term, prevent them from having to deal with financial stress of loans and interest and payments and all these things.
Jeff: Yeah, big difference between $12 an hour and $240 an hour.
Joshua: Yeah.
Jeff: You make a great point there. So if someone’s listening to this, what point do you wish they would take from this, if they take anything at all from this conversation?
Joshua: I think that my big thing is, once you’ve begun the scholarship application process, it’s very critical that you stay humble in the process and are willing to take feedback because, like there are many components that go into these applications, some applications might ask you to make a video, some applications might ask you to do an essay. And as I already mentioned earlier, like there are way, way better writers than I am. And I understand that that is an area that like, I’m like decent at, but like, I’m not, I’m not great at it. So I’m willing to go to individuals in my life that I know are like ten out of ten writers, and they can bring like seven out of ten up to their level after I’ve put in the groundwork. And so the point that I would want to walk away with is the idea that, like in these processes, you have to stay humble, put in the hard work and get people to review what you’re putting out there. Just because it amplifies the materials, it amplifies you, and like the brand that you’re trying to put out and like the story you’re trying to craft for these people on the scholarship committees, and it allows you to have a better shot. And again, it makes those eight hours of total work substantially more worth it. If you do get the scholarship and like, then it just makes your life a lot easier in the long run.
Jeff: What was that feeling when you won your first scholarship?
Joshua: Well, one of my first scholarship I honestly like was very, very like happy just because like, I think it showed me that like through just willingness to apply to different things, a lot of good can come out of it, and it’s kind of hard to express and put into words because there’s just like, I think a moment of joy when you get the call or the email that you got a scholarship. But like the aspect that brings more happiness is when you see the effect of the work that you put in, and you either put it into your bank account or you give it to your school and you see the balance drop down substantially. And in those moments, it’s like, yeah, I like I, I made substantial change in like crafting my future. And it’s not necessarily something that like, like you get money from your parents and then like it brings down the balance or like, you know, you work a part time job. And I mean, nothing against working a part time job is more so that like, it’s just a substantial shift all at once. And it’s a hard feeling to replicate.
Jeff: That’s awesome. Well, congratulations on your journey so far, and we’re going to have to keep in touch and follow you throughout your journey as it continues. So thanks a lot for coming on to blind abilities and sharing with us about scholarships.
Joshua: 100%. I’m willing and able to help out in any way that I can, and I most definitely appreciate you and everyone that’s part of this process. So please guys, go out there and apply for scholarships.
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Jeff: Be sure to contact your State Services for the Blind, your Voc Rehab and find out what they can do for you.
Live, work, read, succeed.
[Music] [Transition noise] –
When we share-
What we see
-Through each other’s eyes…
[Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]
…We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities