There’s no experience like the Bezos Scholars Program—a transformative, year-long, no-cost leadership development program that amplifies youth voice and action so young people with passion can start making a difference today. Each year, 17 exceptional juniors from the U.S. and Africa, along with educators from each of their schools, are selected as Bezos Scholars.

Since 2011, the Bezos Scholars Program has collaborated with the African Leadership Academy to select five students and one educator tasked as a team with planning the annual South African Ideas Festival.

Student Scholars engage in leadership development skill-building through project-based learning and receive free college advising. At the center of the program are Community Change Projects—fresh and sustainable approaches to meeting community needs, conceived and launched by Scholars with our support

The Bezos Scholarship Program is a program of the Bezos Family Foundation, an independent private foundation that champions the science of learning and its application.

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• Attend an eligible* public high school in the United States that currently has a 30% or greater overall free and reduced lunch rate.
• Be a junior at the time they are applying to the program.
• Be enrolled in or have taken one or more advanced course during their high school career. This includes Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and college-level courses.
• Be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, or have received DACA status.
• Be available to fully participate in the year-long program and attend all dates for the Aspen Ideas Festival trip in Aspen, Colorado, June 24 through June 30, 2025.
• Nominate an educator, a willing and supportive adult from their school to serve as a mentor, who will fully participate in the program and go on the trip to Aspen with them.

*Students currently attending a school that a Scholar was selected from in 2023 or 2024 are not eligible to apply for the 2025 cohort. See the list of current ineligible schools. This policy encourages equity of opportunity, allowing us to bring the Scholar experience and the Community Change Projects Scholars create to more schools and geographical locations. The program not only supports and serves individual students and educators, but also brings opportunities and resources to the school ecosystem they are part of.