Media Release: Foundation Awards 85 Undergraduate Transfer Scholarships
LANSDOWNE, VA – The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2014 Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. This cohort is the largest in the program’s 13-year history, with 85 finalists selected from 3,705 applications representing 737 community colleges from 48 states, two U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia.
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship is the largest private scholarship for two-year and community college transfer students in the country. The Foundation provides as much as $30,000 a year for up to three years to the nation’s best low-income community college students seeking to complete a bachelor’s degree at an accredited college or university.
“The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation has long been committed to helping outstanding community college students transfer to and succeed at the nation’s top colleges and universities,” said Emily Froimson, vice president of programs at the Foundation. “Since the program started in 2002, the Foundation has supported 643 community college students directly, and thousands more through the Foundation’s grant making initiatives.”
Scholars were selected based on high academic ability and achievements, persistence, leadership, and financial need. The average GPA of the incoming class is 3.98 and the Scholars come from families with an average adjusted gross income of approximately $25,000. They plan to attend competitive institutions such as Georgetown, Cornell, Stanford and Columbia, as well as numerous selective state universities.
The next application cycle for the Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship Program will run from late September to early December. The Foundation encourages eligible rising sophomores and recent community college graduates (within the last five years) to consider applying for this scholarship.
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation congratulates the following scholarship recipients (listed by state):
Derek Mitchell (Bishop State Community College, AL)
Jeanette Alcaraz (Pima County Community College, AZ)
Fernanda Silva Celaya (Mesa Community College, AZ)
Jasmine Demaline (Yavapai College, AZ)
Edna Simbi (American River College, CA)
Jose Salgado (Canada College, CA)
Paola Didone (Chabot College, CA)
Joshua Elmore (City College of San Francisco, CA)
Chau Vo (College of Alameda, CA)
Isis Frausto-Vicencio (College of the Sequoias, CA)
Jinsung Kim (Diablo Valley College, CA)
Dominique Yancey Piens (Laney College, CA)
Valerie Carranza (Los Angeles Valley College, CA)
Albert Sarian (Los Angeles Valley College, CA)
John Niroula (Los Angeles City College, CA)
Janis Hatchl (Los Medanos College, CA)
Xinyu Liu (Los Rios Community College District, CA)
Travis Williamson (MiraCosta College, CA)
Jyodi Mohole (Mission College, CA)
Aaron Hansen (Mt. San Jacinto College, CA)
Irvin Calderon (Mt. San Jacinto College, CA)
Christopher Leeper (Mt. San Jacinto College, CA)
Nasim Eshragh Nia (Saddleback College, CA)
Alborz Jelvani (Saddleback College, CA)
Marikris Racho (San Diego City College, CA)
Bryce Schierenbeck (San Diego City College, CA)
Trinh Hoang Viet Nguyen (San Diego Miramar College, CA)
Mehrdad Yazdanibiouki (San Diego Miramar College, CA)
Siamak Khakshoor-Kohan (Santa Monica College, CA)
Julianna Bourgeois (Red Rocks Community College, CO)
Stacy McElvaney (Red Rocks Community College, CO)
Steve Seichepine (Delaware Technical & Community College, DE)
Paul Harvel (Broward College, FL)
Jesus Bohorquez (Miami Dade College, FL)
Karen Burgos (Miami Dade College, FL)
Norka Lecca (Miami Dade College, FL)
Daniel Roper (Polk State College, FL)
Gabriella Nicholas (Seminole State College of Florida, FL)
Zachariah Pramschufer (State College of Florida ‐ Venice, FL)
Angel Sanchez (Valencia Community College, FL)
Jose Santana (Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, GA)
Amelia Bagwell (Georgia Highlands College, GA)
Trung Quach (Georgia Perimeter College, GA)
Matthew Tate (Georgia Perimeter College, GA)
Peter Marshall (University of North Georgia, GA)
Christian O’Kelley (College of DuPage, IL)
Dulce Mora Flores (Harold Washington College, IL)
Julie Crafton (Heartland Community College, IL)
Nada Omer (Moraine Valley Community College, IL)
Ishmael Ochir (Olive‐Harvey College, IL)
Sean Pedersen (William Rainey Harper College, IL)
Tiffany Tufts (William Rainey Harper College, IL)
Stephanie Lee (Ivy Tech Community College, IN)
James Keane (North Iowa Area Community College, IA)
Shannon Humm (Community College of Baltimore County, MD)
My Duyen Le (Montgomery College, MD)
Trinh Nguyen (Montgomery College, MD)
Dennis Murphy (Middlesex Community College, MA)
Diana Jomaa (Henry Ford Community College, MI)
Maria Cielito (Schoolcraft College, MI)
Jonathan Kris (Schoolcraft College, MI)
Trevor Creighton (Pearl River Community College, MS)
Maria De Abreu Pineda (Bergen Community College, NJ)
Ana Parra Vera (Bergen Community College, NJ)
Silvia Huerta (Essex County College, NJ)
Sofia Medina (Essex County College, NJ)
Peishan Chen (CUNY Kingsborough Community College, NY)
Rachel Lazar (CUNY Kingsborough Community College, NY)
Cristina Mihailescu (CUNY LaGuardia Community College, NY)
Yueting Chen (CUNY Queensborough Community College, NY)
Lauren Key (Sandhills Community College, NC)
Kathleen Tillmann (Columbus State Community College, OH)
James Presley (Tulsa Community College, OK)
Michelle Harris (Tulsa Community College, OK)
Moriah Walton (Collin County Community College, TX)
Zachary Martin (Lee College, TX)
Stephen Milburn (Northeast Texas Community College, TX)
Matthew Jordan (Northeast Texas Community College, TX)
George Melchor (Southwest Texas Junior College, TX
Lori King-Nelson (Tarrant County College, TX)
Amin Syed (Northern Virginia Community College, VA)
Frank Estevao Maia (Northern Virginia Community College, VA)
Armian Hanelli (Northern Virginia Community College, VA)
Zachary Sorey (Tidewater Community College, VA)
Duyen Le (South Seattle Community College, WA)
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The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is a private, independent foundation dedicated to advancing the education of exceptionally promising students who have financial need. Because we believe that high-potential, low-income students will excel educationally when given the resources to develop their talents, the Foundation supports exceptional students from elementary school to graduate school through scholarships, grants, direct service, and knowledge creation and dissemination. Founded in 2000 by the estate of Jack Kent Cooke, the Foundation has awarded $120 million for over 2,000 scholarships and $76 million in grants to organizations that support our mission. www.jkcf.org
