Category: Scholarship

We are proud to announce the six finalists for the current DiversityJobs Scholarship award, which include future public health advocates, artists, economic and social activists, advertising analysts, historians, and chemical engineers.   We received thousands of exceptional applications, but we feel that these candidates showed the best combination of passion, integrity, and dedication to their chosen fields of study.

Now we need your help in choosing the one scholarship award winner!  The final selection process will involve three different factors:

1.   outside voting (Facebook ‘Like’ and other social media options on the left side of the essays)
2.   comments left by visitors
3.   the DiversityJobs Scholarship committee’s scoring of the student’s application and essay

The one winner will be announced on Wednesday, June 5th.  Please help us with our selection by voting for your favorite essay (Facebook ‘Like’ and other social media sharing options on the left side of the essays) and by leaving comments or clicking the ‘star’ icon above the comments section.

Maria Crandall, Historic Preservation/Composition, Savannah College of Art and Design

As an artist, I see historical landmarks as places to be appreciated by all, like a work of art in a museum. And, like a painting or sculpture, architecture requires as much creativity and labor to complete…Thus, preservation is more than a concern to me; it is a necessity to communities and even economic development. While I intend on being an advocate for the silent, looming structures of our past, I am also determined to increase awareness for their value by restoring and opening structures for public use as museums, music halls, and retail establishments, in addition to housing.

Click to read Maria’s entire essay and vote!

Gabrielle Soria, Advertising, Savannah College of Art and Design

I’m half Filipino, half Caucasian, and while my ethnicity and my looks make me chameleonic to many varied ethnic groups, I grew up never seeing a family that looked like mine in the many advertisements that blared in the breaks between television shows that never featured brown-complexioned characters…It was in these first years on my own, in this entirely new place, that I began to notice the roles race played, or didn’t play, in the media around me. As the child of an interracial marriage, I always noticed the lack of mixed race couples in television and movie plots, novels, commercials. When they were featured, it was more for shock value than as an honest representation of the couple or environment.

Click to read Gabrielle’s entire essay and vote!

Morgan Wilson, History, Harvard University

From Ancient Egypt to the Civil Rights movement, my young mind absorbed every fact and narrative like a sponge. On family vacations to Virginia and Hawaii, I urged my parents to take me to Jamestown and Pearl Harbor. This passion grew as I progressed through school, and before I entered college, I knew that it was the major for me. My confidence was further enhanced by my interactions with the professors and advisors within my college’s History department. I have always felt at home within the department, and I respect and appreciate its stoking of intellectual curiosity.

Click to read Morgan’s entire essay and vote!

Alvin Zhou, Chemical Engineering, Columbia University

A 1950s dial telephone was one of my best free yard sale finds as a 12-year-old. I felt like a surgeon, dissecting as I tried to understand how the intricate springs and circuits could dial an entire phone number and produce audio. Years later, I would find the same excitement in my AP Chemistry class, but with compounds and solutions instead of metal parts. Whether the thrill of winding the last number on the dial or the anticipation of pouring the final few milliliters, I have always loved solving the puzzles of science. Creating the bridge between the unknown and the mundane is at the heart of what attracts me to engineering, but equally I am drawn to how these exciting connections are related to our everyday lives.

Click to read Alvin’s entire essay and vote!

[O]n my twelfth birthday, my dad took me to town, like he always does for my birthday. We went out to eat, to shop, and to walk the streets of my beloved, though dilapidated, downtown Jacksonville, Florida. As we emerged from a local gift shop, I beheld the most glorious structure I had ever seen in my twelve years of life. What I would later know to be called the Marble Bank Building, it glimmered white in the sunlight, its columns shooting far above my head, and immense arched windows towering the eerily quiet downtown street. I scurried up the front stairs to peer into the glass door. What I found was beauty in utter abandonment, the detailed white plaster moldings and decorative cast iron rails under a magnificent skylight, flooding the building with natural light, while exposing its desertion in mistreated floors and rough walls. I wondered how such a seemingly significant structure could stand here in disrepair, and how I hadn’t noticed it before.

The truth is, many don’t notice. In all our eagerness to build, to develop, we find ourselves leaving the true treasures of our architectural past behind. Since my twelfth birthday, I’ve noticed dozens of historical structures in shell condition, some on the brink of demolition, others, merely fading away structurally, as they already have in the memories of many. Most, like the Marble Bank Building, have sat vacant since the 80’s or 90’s, and are becoming a burden to the community, and a lost hope for local preservation societies. There are a few brave enough to put forth the effort to restore, but even our definition of restoration has been distorted with modern development. Buildings are often gutted and furnished with modern fixtures, altering the character and original design of the structure. They are often then converted to nondescript office buildings, unseen to the fleeting glances of onlookers.

As an artist, I see historical landmarks as places to be appreciated by all, like a work of art in a museum. And, like a painting or sculpture, architecture requires as much creativity and labor to complete. Why then, should we look more contemptuously at the person who defaces a portrait? Or accept the compromise of historic value and beauty entirely for modern “improvement?” Can we do the disservice to the architect- to the artist?

Thus, preservation is more than a concern to me; it is a necessity to communities and even economic development. While I intend on being an advocate for the silent, looming structures of our past, I am also determined to increase awareness for their value by restoring and opening structures for public use as museums, music halls, and retail establishments, in addition to housing.

Embarking on a new journey toward higher education, I am forced to ask myself: What do I want of my life? Peering again into the Marble Bank Building five years later, I see myself as this empty encasement, full of life and potential, and I know.

We are proud to announce Maria Crandall is one of the current DiversityJobs Scholarship finalists. Vote for her essay (Facebook ‘Like’ and other social media sharing options in left column), click the ‘star’ just above comments section below, and/or leave comments of support to help us with the selection process.

[I]’ve been mistaken for Latina in Cancun, Brazilian in Rio de Janeiro, Thai in Bangkok, and Middle Eastern in Kuwait. On different occasions people have asked me if I am an Eskimo, or Native American, or Italian, or Hawaiian. When traveling, I am more often spoken to in the land’s mother tongue than in English. I’m half Filipino, half Caucasian, and while my ethnicity and my looks make me chameleonic to many varied ethnic groups, I grew up never seeing a family that looked like mine in the many advertisements that blared in the breaks between television shows that never featured brown-complexioned characters.

I did my undergraduate studies at Emerson College. Experiencing Emerson, and the city of Boston itself, was a hearty dose of culture shock for a girl who’d grown up in the California Bay Area, surrounded by diversity. There were few mixed students on campus. There were few students of color at all on campus. For some students, I was the first Filipino they had ever met—this led to a feeling that anything I said or did was representative of my race, something I struggled mightily with.

It was in these first years on my own, in this entirely new place, that I began to notice the roles race played, or didn’t play, in the media around me. As the child of an interracial marriage, I always noticed the lack of mixed race couples in television and movie plots, novels, commercials. When they were featured, it was more for shock value than as an honest representation of the couple or environment. It enraged me when they cast white actors or actresses to play roles that should have been played by Asians, Pacific Islanders, or Native Americans. But I didn’t know yet what to do with that frustration.

When I was considering graduate school, I examined multiple areas of study. I pondered programs ranging from Post-colonial Studies to Dance Ethnography to Anthropology to East Asian Studies. I decided, ultimately, that I didn’t want to foray into academia. I wanted a program that was practical, creative—a program where I could contribute my perspective, experiences, and voice and actually make a difference. I decided I wanted to embark as an advertiser. To create materials for the public that is not only reflective of the public and their uniqueness, but celebratory of it as well. To challenge those who think that the only time a Latina woman should talk about T-Mobile should be on Telemundo, or that commercials featuring African-American families are just for BET.

I’m sure in light of the efforts of others, this goal may seem trivial. But to me it is important that my children see that they are not alone—that others that look like them exist. That it is normal to be part of that rich and varied spectrum that falls between black and white. That our voices are just as important, our people just as beautiful, our stories just as relevant—no matter how big, no matter how small.

We are proud to announce Gabrielle Soria is one of the current DiversityJobs Scholarship finalists. Vote for her essay (Facebook ‘Like’ and other social media sharing options in left column), click the ‘star’ just above comments section below, and/or leave comments of support to help us with the selection process.

[B]efore I first arrived on campus, I knew that I wanted to be a History major. History is the one subject which I have been deeply passionate about for a very long time. As a child, reading was my favorite activity, making History especially appealing. I loved reading fanciful stories, but I loved the real ones even more. From Ancient Egypt to the Civil Rights movement, my young mind absorbed every fact and narrative like a sponge. On family vacations to Virginia and Hawaii, I urged my parents to take me to Jamestown and Pearl Harbor. This passion grew as I progressed through school, and before I entered college, I knew that it was the major for me. My confidence was further enhanced by my interactions with the professors and advisors within my college’s History department. I have always felt at home within the department, and I respect and appreciate its stoking of intellectual curiosity.

In looking at my pre-college life, you would think that I have not faced any real obstacles: I attended one of the best high schools in my area, earned good grades without too much effort, and was admitted to a prestigious university. But since I have been in college, psychologically the road has not been as easy. While my love for History has not waned, there are times when it feels like I may have chosen the “wrong” major. At my university, many people are set on working in finance or some other field where they will surely earn large paychecks, and they choose their major based on which one will allow them to do so, even If the major they choose is not what they have a real passion for. It sometimes results in me feeling like I may have taken a wrong turn by shunning such a path completely in choosing a major which I study mostly because I love it rather than because of the amount of money I can make with my diploma in the future. In a place where it is already easy to slip into self-doubt (“Do I really deserve to be here? Was I the admissions mistake?), more than once I have felt it necessary to re-convince myself that I made the right choice. But even after the worst bouts of second-guessing, I always realize that I have chosen what is right for me and that I can succeed in life without sacrificing my happiness to an investment bank.

Graduating with this degree will mean the world to me, and my diploma would be a tangible indication of years of hard work and diligence as well as a major step toward my goal of attending graduate school, continuing to study History, and ultimately become a professor. I want to earn this degree not only for myself, but also to ensure that my mother taking an additional job while my father works out of state and both of my parents’ financial sacrifices have not been in vain.

We are proud to announce Morgan Wilson is one of the current DiversityJobs Scholarship finalists. Vote for her essay (Facebook ‘Like’ and other social media sharing options in left column), click the ‘star’ just above comments section below, and/or leave comments of support to help us with the selection process.

[A] 1950s dial telephone was one of my best free yard sale finds as a 12-year-old. I felt like a surgeon, dissecting as I tried to understand how the intricate springs and circuits could dial an entire phone number and produce audio. Years later, I would find the same excitement in my AP Chemistry class, but with compounds and solutions instead of metal parts. Whether the thrill of winding the last number on the dial or the anticipation of pouring the final few milliliters, I have always loved solving the puzzles of science. Creating the bridge between the unknown and the mundane is at the heart of what attracts me to engineering, but equally I am drawn to how these exciting connections are related to our everyday lives. This past summer, I attended a research internship to engineer a diabetic breathalyzer, and I still vividly remember the excitement I felt when realizing my project could one day provide tangible, commonplace benefits. 

Having lived with my diabetic grandmother for many years, I have strong personal feelings about the disease and would be eager to study the connection between medicine and chemical engineering, using both fields to create products that potentially benefit others. 

Realistically, I believe that my contribution to society would not come in the form of a revolutionary cancer cure or a method to eradicate diabetes worldwide. My goal is not to be the next Pasteur, but to bring affordable and widely accessible medicine to the general public, especially to countries where underprivileged citizens cannot afford traditional treatment. Many engineers want to create the next penicillin; I wish to scientifically modify and synthesize products that will be widely available. By pursuing a doctorate degree, I will further increase my arsenal of scientific tools to construct my methods of improving human life. In my future career, I see myself studying on the cutting edge of science, but rather than attempting to find or produce a miracle drug, I will instead use my background in engineering to study and produce medicine in order to decrease costs or expedite accessibility. Even though I may not win Nobel Prizes for my behind-the-scene research or end up on the front page of Scientific American, as long as the fruits of my labor allow more people to access cheap medicine on a wider scale, I am completely satisfied.

We are proud to announce Alvin Zhou is one of the current DiversityJobs Scholarship finalists. Vote for his essay (Facebook ‘Like’ and other social media sharing options in left column), click the ‘star’ just above comments section below, and/or leave comments of support to help us with the selection process.

[A] few years ago, I was seventeen years old, alone in a bathroom, staring down at a positive pregnancy test.

I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen to my life. I had already submitted my statement of intent to register to the University of California Berkeley, a school I was thrilled to soon be attending, and that pregnancy test made me doubt whether my dream was going to happen.

Even though I received no familial support or support from my partner, I decided to have my child and set off for Northern California alone in 2011, in order to start my first semester at UC Berkeley as a bright eyed freshman eager to learn and take in the college experience.

I would be lying if I said it wasn’t the most demanding thing I have ever had to do. I had to learn how to live on my own for the first time, pay bills, deal with health insurance, and tend to a growing pregnancy; all this as a child fresh out of high school lacking any support.

Having my child was one of the most beautiful experiences I’ve ever had but being a single mother at a school as rigorous as Cal soon took a toll on my physical and mental health. As I took my classes and wondered what on earth I wanted to study, a friend of mine introduced me to public health. After going through everything I had been through, I knew this was the major for me.

As a child, I grew up privileged in an upper-middle class lifestyle but I gave all of that up in order to have my daughter and pursue my education, a sacrifice I will never regret, because being a low income single mother has taught me so many things about the state of society that I would never have had the privilege to know if I had not chosen this route.

Now that I know the true struggles of my fellow low income community and the sometimes nearly insurmountable obstacles we go through to receive excellent health care and education, I know I want to major in public health and go on to become a nurse practitioner with that emphasis.

To graduate with this degree would mean the world to me because it would mean that I get to aid and guide. Cure and nourish. Serve and remedy. And that’s all I have ever wanted to do with my life.

Thank you for considering me for this scholarship, and I hope that my efforts are one that you would like to support.

We are proud to announce this student is one of the current DiversityJobs Scholarship finalists. Vote for her essay (Facebook ‘Like’ and other social media sharing options in left column), click the ‘star’ just above comments section below, and/or leave comments of support to help us with the selection process.