On April 21, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation announced its 55 winners of their annual undergraduate transfer scholarship; among them were two HCC students. Leonardo Dulanto Falcon and Adrien Vicente La Lande were both picked for their high academic achievements and commitment to the community as well as their future academic careers.

Also, all students that are awarded the undergraduate scholarship are eligible for the Cooke graduate scholarship.

Leonardo Dulanto Falcon talks about the vigorous application process and says that the hardest part was writing and editing the essays required. Falcon describes a three day study session where he and other applicants, including winner La Lande, would spend eight hours per day, tenaciously perfecting their essays. Falcon says, “The hardest part is being precise because you only have a limited amount of characters for each essay. That makes it hard to tell everything you want to say”.

The Jack Kent Cooke foundation describes the scholarship to be for “top community college students seeking to complete their bachelor’s at a selective four-year college or university.” The scholarship is national and is awarded to approximately 45 out of the 3000 applicants. If chosen, the students are awarded up to $40,000 per year to cover tuition, books, required fees and living expenses.

 The scholarship is very competitive, and all students that make it through the extensive application process are at the top of their colleges. Falcon thinks that one thing that maybe put him over the top is the fact that he told his story, describing all of the issues he had overcome to get to where he is today.

“It’s important to show leadership and a commitment to helping the community around you, but you also have to tell your own story, show the committee how you got to where you are today, talk about challenges you have overcome.” Falcon says that for students that are applying for the Cooke scholarship this year, his best tip is to work hard and not give up. “Write your essays, then rewrite them again and again. Have as many people as possible to help review them. Of all the students that set out to apply, 90% might not finish because it is too much work.”

When awarded the Cooke undergraduate transfer scholarship, the foundation wants you to act as an ambassador for the foundation to promote the scholarship and help future students apply.

Last year’s winner from HCC, Shawn Zamani, hosted a workshop in collaboration with the HCC Honors Institute, open for all students to help guide them through the application process.

Zamani and Falcon are committed to help students review their application essay if they are submitted on time. Falcon says that it is great to be able to help other students work towards this opportunity and that working as ambassadors for the scholarship also helps his progression towards the graduate scholarship he is eligible for after the completion of his bachelor’s degree.

To see if you are eligible, and for more information on the Jack Kent Cooke undergraduate transfer scholarship, go to http://www.jkcf.org/.

Applications and all materials are due Oct, 21. 2017, at noon EST.