NRF Next Generation Top 25 Semifinalist Peyton Darrow Each year, the NRF (National Retail Federation) Foundation hosts the Next Generation Scholarship contest. RMI’s Peyton Darrow ‘22 was named a top 25 semifinalist among other applicants from across the country. "I found the prompt to be very interesting so I was excited to complete it,” Darrow said. “The application has been extremely interesting and has pushed me to use a lot of the skills I’ve learned here at Santa Clara.” The second phase includes completing a case study created in collaboration with Meijer, an American supercenter chain located throughout the Midwest. Along with the case study, applicants will complete two different phone interviews with retailers. Darrow has already started her case study that is due in August. She said she has been able to apply concepts from her OMIS 108 Operations Management course to her work.
by Brooke Eldridge '23 The 2021-2022 Next Generation scholarship allows juniors or seniors enrolled in University Member schools to compete for a number of different scholarships up to $25,000. If the NRF Foundation Student Program in New York City convenes in person in January 2022, the top 25 semifinalists win a travel stipend to attend. Applicants must have a GPA at or above 3.0 and have experience in retail.
“I’m looking forward to the next portion of the application on Meijer,” Darrow said. “Meijer is primarily based in the Midwest so it has pushed me to conduct a lot of outside research. It has been rewarding completing a case on a brand I was previously unfamiliar with.” On August 30, NRF will select and notify the top 10 applicants. The NRF Team will conduct quick fire interviews with those top 10 finalists and then narrow the pool to the final top 5. After the final round interviews, the top recipient of the $25,000 scholarship will be announced at NRF Foundation Honors.
The scholarship application process consists of three phases. The first phase includes an essay portion, personal brand video, two letters of recommendation, resume, headshot and school transcripts. From this phase, the group of applicants is narrowed down to 25 semifinalists, announced in May. 13
