Sallie Mae surprised four high school and college graduates with $25,000 through the company’s “Funded Futures” Contest. The company launched the competition during the Her Campus #ImStillGraduating Class of 2020 virtual graduation last month.
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“Without financial worries in the way, I can keep climbing up the hill of education”
More than 1,000 applications were received, and candidates were evaluated on academic and personal accomplishments, experiences facing adversity, and how they aspire to make an impact in the future. The four recipients chosen include a high school, college, graduate, and medical student.
And the winners are:
Julia Seay is a graduate of Westlake High School in Atlanta, Georgia who plans to attend Washington and Lee University in the fall. She aspires to be the first African American woman to own an environmental firm.
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“For the past two years, I’ve been working on a solution for global warming,” said Seay. “Now as a Funded Futures recipient, I have the opportunity to pay for my provisional patent and see my ideas come to life.”
Seay also plans to use the $25,000 from Sallie Mae to continue her environmental studies and to further develop the mental health organization that she co-founded, The Brainy Bunch, which provides Black youth mental health resources.
Isabel De Ramos is a recent graduate from Villanova University. A Philadelphia native, she will attend Drexel University in the fall to earn a master’s degree in Epidemiology. She plans to use her award to use epidemiologic research to improve the health of Philadelphia’s disadvantaged populations.
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