Campus News

Seventeen incoming freshmen named UGA Foundation Fellows

Athens, Ga. – Seventeen incoming freshmen have been selected to receive the Foundation Fellowship, the University of Georgia’s premier undergraduate scholarship.
The Foundation Fellowship program provides recipients with a full array of scholastic and extracurricular opportunities, including study abroad, internship and research experiences. Individualized attention and student-faculty interactions are another major component of the program to build and support an exemplary undergraduate community of future scholars and leaders.

The new group of Fellows will enroll in UGA’s academically rigorous Honors Program, which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. They also will participate in program events throughout the academic year such as dinner seminars in the homes of faculty, special meetings with distinguished visiting speakers and civic engagement activities in their fields of interest. Senior faculty and current Fellows serve as mentors for the students.

“We are very pleased to have such an outstanding group of new Foundation Fellows,” said David S. Williams, associate provost and director of UGA’s Honors Program. “We look forward to helping them take full advantage of the marvelous resources available to them at UGA, and to all the contributions they are sure to make both on and beyond campus.”

In-state students receive an annual stipend of $9,000 and the HOPE Scholarship. Out-of-state students receive an annual stipend of $15,700 and out-of-state tuition waivers.

The class of 2015 was chosen from 900 applicants with finalists attending a campus interview weekend in February. The finalists participated in faculty-led seminars, social gatherings with current Fellows, and a round of interviews with senior faculty, Foundation trustees, Fellows alumni, and university staff.

The average SAT score for the incoming class is 1559 and the average ACT score is 35. Their high school grade point average is 4.2 on a 4.0 scale, which indicates extra points for Advanced Placement courses. The Fellows also have garnered outstanding academic and extracurricular achievements in high school.

The scholarship is renewable for an additional three years of academic study as long as recipients maintain cumulative 3.5 grade point averages and are in good standing with the Honors Program.

The Foundation Fellows Program was established in 1972 by the trustees of the University of Georgia Foundation to provide an enhanced educational experience for academically outstanding undergraduate students. The new group will bring the current number of Fellows to 67.

For more information, see http://www.uga.edu/honors/ and click on Foundation Fellows.

The 2011 Foundation Fellows are:

Name / Hometown / High School / Parent(s)

From Georgia

Cobb County

Kameel Mir / Marietta / George Walton Comprehensive High School / Mir Abid and Noureen N. Husain

DeKalb County

Eilidh Geddes / Dunwoody / Dunwoody High School / Scott and Eleanor Geddes

Avery Elizabeth Wiens / Atlanta / Lovett High School / John and Betsy Wiens

Fulton County

Megan Elizabeth Ernst / Atlanta / Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School / Michael and Marcia Ernst

Gautam Rajhar Narula / Alpharetta / Alpharetta High School / Naveen Narula and Kavita Chhibber

Megan Frances White / Alpharetta / Northview High School / Donald and Jane White

Gwinnett County

Joshua Andrew Chang / Duluth / Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology / Min-Hwa Hu

Ronald Jackson Kurtz / Duluth / Duluth High School / Jerry and Sue Kurtz

Lowndes County

James Alexander Rowell / Valdosta / Lowndes High School / Al and Sandra Rowell

Pickens County

Michael Tyler Land / Jasper / Pickens High School / Brent and Melissa Land

From Out-of-State

Savannah Elyse Colbert / Austin, Texas / A.N. McCallum High School / Andy and Juliana Colbert

Parker Timothy Evans / Franklin, Tenn. / Franklin High School / Tim and Cindy Evans

Sophia Helene Giberga / Covington, La. / St. Scholastica Academy / Samuel and Jill Giberga

Sarah Aneese Mirza / Grand Island, Neb. / Grand Island Senior High School / Ghulam Mirza and Rishia Brown

David Reynolds Parker / Huntsville, Ala. / Huntsville High School / Wayne and Lisa Parker

Grace Maastricht Siemietkowski / Washington, D.C. / Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School / John and Missy Siemietkowski

John Henry Tab Thompson / Columbia, S.C. / A.C. Flora High School / Tab and Katherine Thompson