Privacy Policy
Effective Date: January 1, 2026 | Last Updated: March 10, 2026
The Hayward Air Rally ("Organization," "we," "us," or "our") operates the Hayward Air Rally Scholarship Portal (the "Portal") to collect and evaluate applications for aviation scholarship awards. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect your personal information when you use the Portal. By submitting an application through the Portal, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy and consent to the practices described herein.
1. Information We Collect
1.1 Personal Information Provided by Applicants
When you submit a scholarship application, we collect the following personally identifiable information ("PII"):
Full legal name; age; street address, city, state, and zip code; cell phone number; email address; and written essay responses describing your aviation background, career goals, educational plans, and other personal information you choose to share.
1.2 Uploaded Documents
You may optionally upload supporting documents such as letters of recommendation and school transcripts. These documents may contain additional personal information, including academic records, evaluations by third parties, and institutional identifiers. You are responsible for ensuring you have any necessary permissions to share documents that contain information about third parties.
1.3 Automatically Collected Information
When you interact with the Portal, our web server may automatically record technical information such as your IP address, browser type and version, device type, and the date and time of your visit. This information is collected through standard server access logs and is used for system administration, security monitoring, and troubleshooting purposes only.
1.4 AI Content Analysis
To preserve the integrity of the scholarship evaluation process, your essay responses may be analyzed using a third-party AI content detection service to assess whether content appears to be human-authored or generated by artificial intelligence tools. Only the text of your essays is transmitted to this service — no other personal information (name, address, email, etc.) is shared. The service returns a numerical score which is stored alongside your application. We do not make adverse decisions based solely on this score; it is one of several factors considered by the review committee.
2. How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect for the following purposes:
Scholarship evaluation: To review, score, and rank applications for the purpose of awarding scholarship funds. Your application materials are reviewed by our authorized scholarship review committee members.
Communication: To contact you regarding the status of your application, to request additional information if needed, and to notify you if you are selected for an award.
Verification: To verify your identity, eligibility, geographic connection, and active pursuit of an aviation career as required by our scholarship criteria.
Integrity assurance: To detect plagiarism, AI-generated content, or fraudulent submissions.
Aggregate reporting: To produce anonymized, aggregate statistics about applicant demographics and program effectiveness. Individual applicants are never identified in such reporting.
3. Who Has Access to Your Information
Access to your personal information is strictly limited to:
Scholarship review committee members: Authorized volunteers of the Hayward Air Rally who have been granted credentials to the Portal's review dashboard. Committee members use your information solely for the purpose of evaluating and scoring scholarship applications.
Organization administrators: A small number of designated administrators responsible for operating the Portal and managing the scholarship program.
Third-party service providers: We use Amazon Web Services (AWS) to host the Portal and store application data, including uploaded documents. Essay text may be transmitted to Sapling.ai for AI content analysis. These service providers are bound by their own privacy policies and terms of service and process data on our behalf.
We do not sell, rent, lease, or trade your personal information to any third party. We do not share your information with any party outside of those listed above, except as required by law.
4. Data Storage and Security
Your personal information and uploaded documents are stored on secure servers provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) located within the United States. We implement the following security measures to protect your data:
All data transmitted between your browser and the Portal is encrypted using TLS (Transport Layer Security). Database access is restricted to authenticated application connections using unique credentials. Uploaded documents are stored in a server directory that is not directly accessible via web browser — files can only be downloaded by authenticated committee members through a secure endpoint. All database queries use parameterized statements to prevent SQL injection attacks. User-submitted content is sanitized before display to prevent cross-site scripting (XSS). All forms are protected with anti-forgery tokens (CSRF protection). Committee member passwords are stored using industry-standard one-way hashing (bcrypt).
While we employ commercially reasonable security measures, no method of electronic storage or internet transmission is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee the absolute security of your data.
5. Data Retention
We retain application data, including personal information and uploaded documents, for a period of three (3) years from the date of submission, after which it is permanently deleted from our systems. This retention period allows us to comply with any audit, legal, or regulatory requirements and to reference historical data for program improvement.
If you would like your application data deleted prior to the end of the retention period, you may submit a written request to scholarships@hwdairrally.org. We will process your request within thirty (30) days, except where retention is required by law or necessary to fulfill a legitimate organizational purpose (for example, record-keeping for awarded scholarships).
6. Your Rights
Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information, including:
Right to access: You may request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
Right to correction: You may request that we correct inaccurate or incomplete personal information.
Right to deletion: You may request that we delete your personal information, subject to legal and legitimate retention requirements.
Right to data portability: You may request a copy of your data in a commonly used, machine-readable format.
If you are a California resident, you may have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), including the right to know what personal information is collected and how it is used, the right to request deletion, and the right to non-discrimination for exercising your privacy rights. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at scholarships@hwdairrally.org.
7. Applicants Under 18
This scholarship program is intended for individuals who are at least 18 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under the age of 18. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a minor without verifiable parental or guardian consent, we will take steps to delete that information promptly. If you believe a minor has submitted information through the Portal, please contact us at scholarships@hwdairrally.org.
8. Cookies and Tracking
The Portal uses a single session cookie (PHPSESSID) that is essential for the secure operation of the site (e.g., maintaining login sessions for committee members and protecting form submissions with security tokens). This cookie expires when you close your browser. We do not use tracking cookies, advertising cookies, analytics services (such as Google Analytics), social media pixels, or any other third-party tracking technology.
9. Third-Party Links
The Portal may contain links to external websites, including the main Hayward Air Rally website. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of third-party sites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any external sites you visit.
10. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. If we make material changes, we will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Your continued use of the Portal after any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.
Terms of Use
Effective Date: January 1, 2026 | Last Updated: March 10, 2026
By accessing or using the Hayward Air Rally Scholarship Portal (the "Portal"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use. If you do not agree to these terms, do not use the Portal or submit an application.
Eligibility
The scholarship is open to individuals who are at least 18 years of age and who meet the eligibility criteria described on the application page, including geographic connection to the San Francisco Bay Area or Sacramento area and active pursuit of an aviation career. By submitting an application, you represent and warrant that you meet all stated eligibility requirements and that all information provided is truthful and accurate.
Application Submissions
Each applicant may submit only one application per scholarship cycle, identified by email address. Duplicate submissions will be rejected. You are solely responsible for the accuracy and completeness of your application. Providing false, misleading, or plagiarized information — including the use of AI-generated content presented as your own original writing — may result in immediate disqualification and forfeiture of any awarded funds.
Uploaded Documents
By uploading documents to the Portal, you represent that you have the legal right to share those materials and that they do not infringe on the intellectual property or privacy rights of any third party. You grant the Hayward Air Rally a limited, non-exclusive license to store, access, and review uploaded documents solely for the purpose of evaluating your scholarship application.
Scholarship Awards
Scholarship recipients are selected at the sole discretion of the Hayward Air Rally scholarship review committee. All decisions are final. The Organization reserves the right to modify the number, amount, or criteria of awards at any time. Scholarship funds are awarded for educational expenses associated with aviation curricula and may be subject to conditions regarding their use.
Intellectual Property
All content, design, and software comprising the Portal are the property of the Hayward Air Rally or its licensors and are protected by applicable intellectual property laws. You may not copy, modify, distribute, or reverse-engineer any part of the Portal. Your essay responses remain your intellectual property; however, you grant us a limited license to use them for evaluation, program reporting, and promotional purposes (with personally identifying details removed) unless you notify us otherwise in writing.
Limitation of Liability
The Portal is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. The Hayward Air Rally, its officers, directors, volunteers, and committee members (collectively, "Released Parties") make no warranties, express or implied, regarding the Portal's operation, availability, or accuracy. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Released Parties shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of or inability to use the Portal, any unauthorized access to or alteration of your data, or any other matter relating to the Portal, even if advised of the possibility of such damages.
Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Released Parties from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or in any way connected with your use of the Portal, your application submission, any breach of these Terms, or any violation of applicable law.
Governing Law
These Terms of Use and any disputes arising from or relating to the Portal or the scholarship program shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Any legal proceedings shall be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Alameda County, California.
Severability
If any provision of these Terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions shall continue in full force and effect.
Contact Us
If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, these Terms of Use, or our data practices, please contact us at:
Hayward Air Rally — Scholarship Program
Email: scholarships@hwdairrally.org
Website: http://www.hwdairrally.org/