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
