Betty White’s Zoo Pals Scholarships

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Due to the popularity of the Betty White’s Zoo Pals Scholarship Program, all applications that meet the criteria will be entered into a lottery that will take place the week of January 12, 2026. All teachers interested in applying MUST submit a completed application by December 19, 2025 at 11:59pm. Applications received after December 19, 2025 at 11:59pm will not be eligible to participate in the lottery. Scholarship awardees will be notified via email by EOD January 16, 2026.

Betty White’s Zoo Pals is a special grant-funded program for Kindergarten-5th grade students in Title 1 schools. Zoo Pals programs provide teachers and their students with FREE programs and supplies for your students. Students will participate in interactive programming that utilizes the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

To be eligible for a Betty White’s Zoo Pals scholarship, a school must be within Los Angeles County and have received Title 1 funding in the 2024-25 or 2025-26 school year.

Zoo Pals scholarship recipients will receive a series of three Zoo Programs over the course of two to three months. Please note that Component #1: Virtual Teacher Workshop is a mandatory component of scholarship receipt.

Virtual Teacher Workshop Teachers are required to attend a virtual workshop where you will learn more about the BWZP program and be introduced to tools the Zoo has to help your students develop the skills needed to think like a scientist.
Classroom Visit: During our classroom visit, your students will participate in a hands-on science activity and act like a scientist.
Field Trip: Your class will come on a guided field trip to the L.A. Zoo and use the skills they learned to be a scientist. The scholarship will cover the cost of one bus for transportation from your school to the L.A. Zoo.

CLICK HERE to apply for the Betty White’s Zoo Pals Scholarship for the ’25-’26 school year.

NOTE: This online form requires signatures from the Contact Teacher and School Principal on Page 6. Please make sure both are available to complete this application. The form can be saved and resumed at a later time.

About Betty

Betty White was a supporter of the L.A. Zoo and a benefactor of the Zoo Pals Scholarship.

For more than fifty years, Betty White was one of the Los Angeles Zoo’s most ardent admirers and devoted benefactors. Throughout her busy Hollywood career, she remained a steady presence at the Zoo. Always ready to roll up her sleeves and get to work, she was a longtime GLAZA trustee, a Zoo Commissioner, served on countless committees, and worked behind the scenes to raise funds for new animal habitats and initiatives. And, because of plans that she put in motion before she died, her legacy will continue to live on in myriad ways here, including establishing a private foundation supporting the place she called her “home away from home.”

Betty passed away on December 31, 2021, just weeks shy of her 100th birthday. Betty’s own love of animals began very early, and she hoped to spark that same fascination in children who might not otherwise have the opportunity to visit the Zoo. The private foundation she established before her death has provided generous funding to various programs, including Zoo Pals. That funding allowed the Zoo to greatly expand the program’s offerings and capacity. In June 2023, the program was renamed “Betty White’s Zoo Pals” in her honor.