Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Announces Winners of 2018 Cooke Graduate Scholarship and International Award
These scholarships will enable Cooke Scholars to continue their higher education at the world’s top graduate programs
Lansdowne, VA (December 17, 2018) – The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports high-achieving students with financial need, announced today the award of up to approximately $7 million total to 82 students who have recently begun graduate programs at some of the most highly selective institutions in the U.S. and the U.K. Each of the Cooke Graduate Scholarship recipients will be eligible to receive up to $75,000 total for up to four years. The three recipients of the Cooke International Award will receive up to $85,000 per year for up to four years of study at Lincoln College or Brasenose College at the University of Oxford, or Clare College at the University of Cambridge.
With average tuition topping more than $40,000 for private colleges and universities, graduate school is often beyond the economic reach of students with financial need. However, research suggests that graduate school can fuel profound increases in lifetime earnings, in relation to graduates that obtain a college degree alone.
“Even students who excel to and through college often face financial roadblocks on the path to graduate studies,” said Seppy Basili, executive director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation. “These scholars are poised to make an impact in fields from art to medicine in ways that will transform our lives and society. Cooke Scholars share a remarkable focus on solving pressing issues, and we can’t wait to see what this year’s recipients will accomplish.”
While completing her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley, Cooke International Award recipient Mandolyn Ludlum published a thesis proposing holistic equity as an analytical framework for pursuing educational equity. Mandolyn is a Grammy-nominated artist and has served as an advocate and leader in roles at the Revolve Impact/The California Endowment’s #SchoolsNotPrisons Tour, Hip Hop Caucus, and the Roses in Concrete Community School. Now at the University of Oxford, Mandolyn has begun an M.Sc. in comparative and international education, which she plans to continue through a Ph.D. She sees her graduate work as “imperative to strengthening my abilities to advocate for children, influence policies that relate to children, and to more deeply understand how to collaborate with communities in cultural and governmental contexts as I continue to pursue creating a global children’s program.”
As a mechanical engineering undergraduate at Cornell University, Cooke Graduate Scholar Sebastian Roubert Martinez worked on projects encompassing biomechanics and electromechanical design for Professor Christopher Hernandez’s research group, Cornell Hyperloop, MIT Media Lab, and Orthofit Inc. Sebastian is now working toward a Ph.D. in engineering at Harvard University. He states that the common theme of his work is “the application of engineering in the pursuit of improving human experience. I found that the most worthwhile area of study is also the one most in need of help: human health.”
A full list of this year’s Cooke International Award recipients and Cooke Graduate Scholars can be found below:
Cooke International Award Recipients:
Mandolyn Ludlum
Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley
Graduate Institution: Oxford University
Rozhin Parvaresh
Undergraduate Institution: Georgia Institute of Technology
Graduate Institution: University of Cambridge
Nuno Pereira
Undergraduate Institution: John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Graduate Institution: Oxford University
Cooke Graduate Scholars:
Jon Alexander
Undergraduate Institution: University of Texas at Austin
Mariia Alibekova
Undergraduate Institution: Colorado School of Mines
Graduate Institution: University of Pennsylvania
Benjamin Arbaugh
Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Davis
Graduate Institution: University of California, Davis
Katelyn Armbruster
Undergraduate Institution: Lehigh University
Biruktawit “Birdy” Assefa
Undergraduate Institution: Yale University
Graduate Institution: Yale University
Ahmed Attia
Undergraduate Institution: Stanford University
Elyse Barnard
Undergraduate Institution: Middlebury College
Graduate Institution: Georgetown University
Alyssa Barratt
Undergraduate Institution: University of Kansas
Graduate Institution: University of Kansas
Roxana Berinde
Undergraduate Institution: Loyola University Chicago
Graduate Institution: Columbia University
Louisa Dru Brenner
Undergraduate Institution: Stanford University
Graduate Institution: University of Chicago
Preston Butler
Undergraduate Institution: University of Texas at Dallas
Graduate Institution: Boston University
Leib Celnik
Undergraduate Institution: Harvard University
Graduate Institution: University of Cambridge
Simbarashe Change
Undergraduate Institution: Pacific Lutheran University
Graduate Institution: University of Washington
Wesley Close
Undergraduate Institution: Wesleyan University
Graduate Institution: Middlebury College
Diego Cruz-Burbano
Undergraduate Institution: Georgia Institute of Technology
Graduate Institution: EADA Business School
Melissa Cunningham
Undergraduate Institution: University of Southern Maine
Graduate Institution: University of Southern Maine
Maria De Abreu Pineda
Undergraduate Institution: Stephens Institute of Technology
Melissa Diaz
Undergraduate Institution: University of Florida
Timothy Diovanni
Undergraduate Institution: Columbia University
Graduate Institution: Dublin Institute of Technology
Emily Duong
Undergraduate Institution: Occidental College
Graduate Institution: University of California, Irvine
Marwa Elgazzar
Undergraduate Institution: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Graduate Institution: George Washington University
David Ellis
Undergraduate Institution: Villanova University
Elijah Evans
Undergraduate Institution: St. Edward’s University
Graduate Institution: University of Texas at Austin
Maria Gonzalez-Trevino
Undergraduate Institution: University of Houston
Graduate Institution: South Texas College of Law Houston
Adam Hamilton
Undergraduate Institution: University of Pennsylvania
Sharmen Hettipola
Undergraduate Institution: Bucknell University
Graduate Institution: Oxford University
Chien-Hsiang “Fred” Huang
Undergraduate Institution: Duke University
Graduate Institution: Duke University
Silvia Huerta
Undergraduate Institution: University of Pennsylvania
Graduate Institution: Harvard University
Eric Huynh
Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley
Graduate Institution: University of Cambridge
Amayha Jimenez
Undergraduate Institution: Columbia University
Graduate Institution: Nova Southeastern University
Anastasia Jones
Undergraduate Institution: University of Pennsylvania
Graduate Institution: Drexel University
Matthew Jordan
Undergraduate Institution: Texas Tech University
Graduate Institution: Louisiana State University
Deanna Keller
Undergraduate Institution: College of St. Scholastica
Graduate Institution: Arizona State University
Rosanna Kim
Undergraduate Institution: Swarthmore College
Graduate Institution: Stanford University
Nandjui Koutouan
Undergraduate Institution: Kettering University
Rey Laurencio
Undergraduate Institution: University of Texas at Austin
Graduate Institution: Texas Southern University
Christopher LeFlore
Undergraduate Institution: Williams College
Graduate Institution: University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
Yong Tong Li
Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley
Graduate Institution: London School of Economics and Political Science
Bianca Lin
Undergraduate Institution: University of Pennsylvania
Ryan Liu
Undergraduate Institution: Yale University
Graduate Institution: Oxford University
Xinyu Liu
Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley
Graduate Institution: Brown University
Yessica Maltes
Undergraduate Institution: University of Miami
Graduate Institution: University of Miami
Gabriela Maurier
Undergraduate Institution: California Institute of Integral Studies
Graduate Institution: California Institute of Integral Studies
Amara McCune
Undergraduate Institution: Stanford University
Graduate Institution: University of California, Santa Barbara
Karen Meacham
Undergraduate Institution: Texas Woman’s University
Graduate Institution: University of California, Los Angeles
Cristina Mihailescu
Undergraduate Institution: Columbia University
Graduate Institution: New York University
David Millar
Undergraduate Institution: University of Florida
Graduate Institution: University of Florida
Jeremy Neill
Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Santa Barbara
Graduate Institution: University of California, Merced
Nguyen Nguyen
Undergraduate Institution: Texas A&M University
Graduate Institution: Johns Hopkins University
John Niroula
Undergraduate Institution: Massachusetts Institution of Technology
Graduate Institution: Massachusetts Institution of Technology
Samuel Offei
Undergraduate Institution: Cornell University
Jonah Okike-Hephzibah
Undergraduate Institution: Cornell University
Graduate Institution: Cornell University
Ricardo Pagulayan
Undergraduate Institution: University of Notre Dame
Ana Parra Vera
Undergraduate Institution: Stevens Institute of Technology
Graduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley
Suhaily Penix
Undergraduate Institution: Wellesley College
Graduate Institution: Brandeis University
Bryce Primavera
Undergraduate Institution: Harvard University
Graduate Institution: University of Colorado, Boulder
Siira Rieschl
Undergraduate Institution: Bard College
Graduate Institution: Bard College
William Ritter
Undergraduate Institution: University of Rochester
Graduate Institution: University of Rochester
Brittany Robbins
Undergraduate Institution: Florida International University
Graduate Institution: Emory University
Sebastian Roubert
Undergraduate Institution: Cornell University
Graduate Institution: Harvard University
Manuel Ruiz
Undergraduate Institution: Southern Polytechnic State University
Sharalyn Sentinella
Undergraduate Institution: Western Washington University
Graduate Institution: Northeastern University
Tessa Seymour
Undergraduate Institution: Curtis Institute of Music
Graduate Institution: Goldsmiths, University of London
Kaitlyn Shin
Undergraduate Institution: Stanford University
Graduate Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Fernanda Silva Celaya
Undergraduate Institution: Arizona State University, Polytechnic Campus
Graduate Institution: University of California, Los Angeles
Colin Skinner
Undergraduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley
Graduate Institution: University of California, Berkeley
Kristina Smolenski
Undergraduate Institution: University of Hawaii at Manoa
Graduate Institution: University of Hawaii at Manoa
Jacob Sorenson
Undergraduate Institution: Arizona State University
Graduate Institution: University of Arizona
Homero Sosa Mendoza
Undergraduate Institution: Arizona State University
Amin Syed
Undergraduate Institution: University of Virginia
Graduate Institution: Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine
Marjada Tucker
Undergraduate Institution: Rice University
Graduate Institution: University of Mississippi
Monique Urrutia
Undergraduate Institution: Emerson College
Graduate Institution: Harvard University
Nicole Valenzuela
Undergraduate Institution: Arizona State University
Graduate Institution: Arizona State University
Hollie Wagner
Undergraduate Institution: Evergreen State College
Graduate Institution: University of Washington
Konrad Walek
Undergraduate Institution: Brown University
Graduate Institution: Brown University
Lauren Whittaker
Undergraduate Institution: Barnard College
Graduate Institution: Arizona State University
Christopher Wilbur
Undergraduate Institution: Brown University
Graduate Institution: The Institute for World Politics
Kataeya Wooten
Undergraduate Institution: Barnard College
Zachary Zumbo
Undergraduate Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Graduate Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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About the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is dedicated to advancing the education of exceptionally promising students who have financial need. Since 2000, the Foundation has awarded $190 million in scholarships to nearly 2,500 students from 8th grade through graduate school, along with comprehensive counseling and other support services. The Foundation has also provided over $100 million in grants to organizations that serve such students. www.jkcf.org
Media Contact: Amber Styles, 571-442-0772, media@jkcf.org
Photo header: Cooke Scholars Jonah Okike-Hephzibah and Sebastian Roubert Martinez.