Student Challenge Fund

SCF logo

The John H. Martinson Honors Program Student Challenge Fund was created to encourage students to consider service-oriented experiences, motivate attendance to academic or leadership conferences, and support innovative projects of students’ own design.

  • up to five (5) individuals will be funded each fall and spring (up to 10 total per academic year) with a maximum funding of $500 per student,
  • students completing an innovative project may do so as part of a team, with maximum funding of $1,500 per team,
  • teams may complete one application if applying for up to $500, but must complete separate applications if applying for additional funding (for example, a team of two could request up to $1,000 with two applications for $500 each and a team of three could request up to $1,500 with three applications for $500 each),
  • service trips, conferences, or projects must be of a secular nature, 
  • the request must be made at least two weeks in advance of the event,
  • you must keep track of your expenses (including specific mileage for driving trips) with itemized receipts that document payment and match your itemized budget request in order to be reimbursed (no exceptions),
  • expenses cannot be paid using a "buy now, pay later" service such as Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna, Sezzle, PayPal, or Shop Pay,
  • you must submit your receipts within 10 days of completion of the trip or project (no exceptions), 
  • all Georgia Tech travel policies must be followed, including the new requirement of using Travel, Inc. for booking all airfare regardles of whether or not you are a GT employee,
  • if you fail to use your funding during the semester in which it was awarded, it will not roll over–you must reapply in a future semester, and
  • students must indicate on the application whether they are current employees of Georgia Tech (e.g., a student assistant, TA, RA, employee in a GT office, etc.).  Current GT student employees MUST complete a spend authorization request in the Workday financial system at least one week prior to any kind of travel, such as to a conference, for a service trip, to complete a project, etc. (no exceptions).

Please click on the links below for more information about examples of experiences or projects. These examples should help you choose or design your own trip or project for submission, but it is not meant to limit your options. If you are interested in participating in a service trip/project or attending a conference, you should apply to the programs themselves. After being accepted, you can then submit a proposal to be reimbursed from the John H. Martinson Honors Program.  

EXAMPLES OF ELIGIBLE EXPERIENCES OR PROJECTS

**The SCF award will fund reimbursement of approved and documented materials, supplies, or services used by the student(s) in the design or creation of qualifying innovative projects.  Approved projects must:

  1. Involve the design, creation, or performance of an invention, work of art, publishable writing, community initiative, or the like.
  2. Hold potential for significantly advancing students’ understanding, skills, or accomplishments, or students’ qualifications for winning a grant, scholarship, fellowship, or award.
  3. Be performed independently by the student or student team and not as part of any student’s coursework, co-op, internship, or employment activities or responsibilities.

Deadline for JMHP funding proposals: rolling applications, due at least two weeks before the start of the trip/event/project.  Only five (5) students per fall and spring semester will be funded.  We will notify you if all funding for that semester has already been allocated to other projects.    

Proposal submission requires an accompanying budget. Download this template to create your budget (requires GT login) and this form to submit your proposal.  Proposals without a budget will not be considered. 

CLICK HERE FOR THE FA25 STUDENT CHALLENGE FUND APPLICATION.