Volunteer for Vets Scholarship

Congratulations to our 2024 scholarship recipient, Joshua Elliot! Read more about our previous winners here.

Pontius Tax Law, PLLC is a proud supporter of U.S. Veterans. The firm’s founder, John Pontius, is a Veteran himself and is committed to honoring the military personnel who have served our country. Attorney Pontius started practicing law in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps with the 1st Armored Division in Germany and was later deployed to Iraq. Attorney Pontius also has experience supervising the IRS-sponsored military Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program in Germany. There, he managed a team of eight employees and ensured the quality control of over 2,000 federal and 700 state tax returns for military service members.

Due to Attorney Pontius’ close ties to the military, he has decided to create a scholarship specifically for Veterans or a U.S. veteran’s child. Pontius Tax Law believes Veterans are owed a huge debt for the service they have done for our country. We are seeking input from veterans or the children of veterans on ways that we, as a community, can better support them. We are also interested in hearing how being a Veteran or the child of a Veteran has impacted your life and changed your views. The deadline for this $1,000 scholarship is November 30, 2025. If you are a Veteran or a child of a Veteran, please be sure to apply!

Thank you to all those who have served and continue to serve our country.

Award Amount: $1000

Eligibility

• The scholarship is open to any current high school senior, vocational student, college student, or graduate student who is a legal resident of the United States, residing in one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia, and who is enrolled in a vocational program or a two to four year post-secondary institution.
• Employees of Pontius Tax Law, PLLC, their immediate families (parent, child, sibling, and spouse), and persons living in the same households of such individuals (whether related or not), are not eligible to participate in the competition.
• Candidates for this scholarship must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 or higher and be in good academic standing overall.

Application Requirements

• The candidate must fill out the form below with all necessary information
• The candidate must submit a 750-1,000 word essay response to the prompt: How can we better support Veterans in our community? Please provide specific examples.
  • Please note that all essays will be checked for AI writing. If AI-generated writing is detected in the essay, the application will be denied.
• The candidate must submit a professional resumé that lists their experience, both professional and academic.
• The candidate must submit a transcript from their current school. First-year college students, graduate students, or individuals who have recently transferred to a new school may submit an unofficial transcript from their current institution, as well as the most recent official transcript from their previous school. High school students can submit proof of acceptance to their college or university.
• Preference will be given to students either from or attending secondary school in the state.

The recipient of the Volunteer For Vets Scholarship will be chosen during the month following the scholarship deadline.

For all scholarship-related inquiries, please use this contact form. Please note that we are unable to answer scholarship questions by phone.