Yep. I think he or his parents have good networking or searching skills. I also assume he's bright since scholarships here are usually awarded due to high grades.
That's interesting... I learned to network from college, which is probably the most valuable thing that I got out of my experience.
Sometimes scholarships are awarded to families who have someone employed at many different businesses. Costco has a scholarship program. I'm sure that Starbucks has one. Target, Wal-Mart, etc... They all probably have scholarship programs. They are not heavily contested because many people don't research or take full advantage of their employment benefits. Networking ( and Nepotism ) work at this level, so just asking around could lead to interesting opportunities. You may be surprised by who some of your family will know or even be good friends with.
Some people have scholarship programs that they personally fund. They are basically up for grabs if you know someone that is connected. Again... Networking and asking family will lead to opportunities.
One summer vacation, we traveled out to an island. It was just me and a few of my friends. I met the dean of a well-known university and we chatted it up ( he had a giant, bad-ass yacht ). These were friends that I worked with that invited me. We had met a year or so earlier when I started a conversation with a few strangers. They had given me a card and said that I should apply where they were working. I applied about 6 months later, and they pretty much turned me away at the door. I said that I knew these guys, and another person that I knew from college who worked there as well. They gave me the job without question, I moved up, and at some point was pretty much was allowed to do what I wanted. I ended up meeting several awesome engineers and was invited to house parties and poker games. I learned to play Texas Hold'em Poker for the first game, which I won, which lead me to become really good at it. All of this and more because I decided to talk to a few strangers that I normally would have avoided.
Just one example of social networking in action.
