80 Named Joyce Ivy Summer Scholars

2017 Cohort Is One of Largest and Most Distinctive To Date

ANN ARBOR, MI, March 30, 2017 – The Joyce Ivy Foundation today announced the names of eighty young women selected to receive scholarships to participate in summer pre-college academic programs at the Foundation’s partner colleges and universities, including Barnard College, Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Emory University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Smith College, Washington University in St. Louis, and Yale University.

The 2017 Summer Scholars come from all seven of the Midwestern states currently supported by the Foundation – Michigan, Ohio, Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota – and attend 62 different secondary schools. This year’s recipients were selected from one of the largest applicant pools in the Foundation’s history.

“This was such a talented, diverse applicant pool,” said Maya Aravind, co-chair of the Selection Committee and a Joyce Ivy Foundation board member. “The Selection Committee was extremely impressed with the academic strength of this year’s applicants, as well as the various ways in which these students are leaders and active community members. Every application is reviewed by two different readers and then reviewed again by the full committee.”

For Scholars who come from schools that calculate GPA or class rank, 84% have a 4.0 GPA and 56% rank first or second in their class. Over 45% qualify for the highest level of need-based scholarship and 46% will be first generation in their family to attend a four-year college, a significant increase over prior years.
​
“This group of Scholars is remarkable,” said S. Caroline Kerr, Chief Executive Officer of the Joyce Ivy Foundation. “Throughout the selection process, we found ourselves remarking on the talent, as well as the potential and sense of purpose these students demonstrate. Many have never traveled outside of their home state or the Midwest, but they find all sorts of ways to challenge themselves, stretch their comfort zones, and seek to understand those who come from very different backgrounds.”

Two of the 2017 Summer Scholars will also be recipients of special named awards, including the Mary Vandewiele Leadership Award and the Joyce Ivy Alumnae Supported Scholarship. The Foundation will announce the 2017 award recipients next week.

A total of four 2017 Scholars are participants in Minds Matter, a national organization that provides lower-income students with multi-year college preparatory mentoring and support. The Joyce Ivy Foundation, Minds Matter Cleveland, and Minds Matter Twin Cities will jointly fund the scholarships for the Minds Matter Scholars, in collaboration with the summer program partners.

The 2017 Summer Scholars will be honored at the annual Scholars Gala on May 6 in Ypsilanti, Michigan, featuring an address by the 2017 Joyce Ivy Foundation Leader of the Year, Jocelyn Benson, Chief Executive Officer of the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE). The Foundation will also honor four inaugural Women of Impact award recipients, Veronika Scott, Chief Executive Officer of The Empowerment Plan; Linzie Venegas, Vice President of The Ideal Group; Tiffany Brown, Communications Director for Mission Flint; and Allyson Carpenter, alumna of the Joyce Ivy Summer Scholars program, Truman Scholar, and President of the Student Government at Howard University.

The 2017 Summer Scholars

Michigan
Jaynab Akhtar, Hamtramck High School
Rubba Al-Kafaji, Crestwood High School
Madison Bates, Boyne City High School
Hannah Baynesan, Belleville High School
Alyvia Bruce Charlotte High School
Samar Charara, Crestwood High School
Tayebah Chowdhury, Benjamin Carson High School of Science and Medicine
Rachel Christopherson, Winston Churchill High School
Amelia Cole, Marquette Senior High School
Rebecca Collins-Pfeiffer, Sacred Heart Academy
Sarah Craig, Wayne Memorial High School
Abigail Elwell, Washtenaw Technical Middle College
Aria Falcone, Washtenaw International High School
Sadia Farha, Benjamin Carson High School of Science and Medicine
Katherine Frait, Milan High School
Nina Hardy, Belleville High School
Abtisam Hassan, Crestwood High School
Carly Kallen, West Bloomfield High School
Irisa Lico, Wayne Memorial High School
Mahwish Mallick, Huron High School
Allison Marshall, Coldwater Senior High School
Charisse McComas, International Academy
Brooke Ostrowski, Traverse City West Senior High School
Isabella Pearl, East Grand Rapids High School
Isabella Poquiz, Alma High School
Makela Rodgers, East Lansing High School
Avani Samandur, West Bloomfield High School
Neha Seshadri, Skyline High School
Serena Touqan, Crestwood High School
Larissa Walker, Jenison High School
Erin Wickings, Port Huron High School
Eleni Wohl, Monroe High School

Ohio
Ana-Sophia Beardsley, Waterford High School
Emma Brackman, Jackson High School
Mingqi Cai, Upper Arlington High School
Melissa Damico, Saint Ursula Academy
Caroline Elliott, Kettering Fairmont High School
Bonnie Guo, Dublin Jerome High School
Megann Hohman, Liberty Benton High School
Savannah Ireland, Jackson High School
Marie Kim, Dublin Jerome High Schol
Amanda Kong, John Hay Cleveland School of Science and Medicine
Kayla Kramer, North Union High School
Veda Krumpe, Springfield High School
Ashley Mathews, Batavia High School
Destini Mccrory, Cleveland School of Science and Medicine
Katelyn Paulus, New Bremen High School
Emily Polcyn, Jackson High School
Courtney Reed, Hawken School
Caroline Rueter, Mount Notre Dame High School
Clare Scott, Ohio Connections Academy
Lily Smith, Ashland High School
Briahnah Streeter, Cleveland School of Science and Medicine
Denise Danielle, Tamesis Maumee Valley Country Day School
Allex Teters, Waterford High School

Missouri
Emily Geisendorfer, Marionville High School
Jade Nguyen, Fort Zumwalt East High School
Shelby Ripp, Parkway Central High School
Sarah Rollings, Sacred Heart High School
Autumn Shelton, Lamar High School
Abigail Surlet, Pattonville High School
Sophie Thorpe, David H. Hickman Senior High School

Minnesota
Abigail Huberty, Robbinsdale Armstrong High School
Elisa Lopez, The Blake School

North Dakota
Daysha Fliginger, Fargo South High School

Nebraska
Victoria Lei, Brownell-Talbot School
Johanna Schubert, Lincoln High School
Eben Kohtz, Omaha Central High School
Carmina Rangel-Pacheco, Omaha South High School Magnet
Alejandra Varela, Omaha South High School Magnet
Alyn Flores Aguilar, Omaha South High School Magnet
Karla Ponce-Merida, Omaha South High School Magnet
Karina Salcido-Rodriguez, Omaha South High School Magnet
Maria Elizarraga Hernandez, Omaha South High School Magnet
Madelene Portillo, Omaha South High School Magnet
Stephanie Reha, Omaha South High School Magnet
Chantal Riggs, Sidney High School
Anallely Vega, Omaha South High School Magnet

South Dakota
Kashfia Rahman, Brookings High School
Hannah Gates, TF Riggs High School

About The Joyce Ivy Foundation
The Joyce Ivy Foundation seeks to provide exposure, encouragement, and financial assistance to young women who have the academic, intellectual, and leadership potential to attend the nation’s most selective institutions of higher education. Funding for the Joyce Ivy Foundation is provided by individuals, other foundations, and corporations. Since its founding in 2006, the Foundation named 635 students from Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, and South Dakota as Joyce Ivy Scholars, providing scholarships for them to attend summer educational programs at over a dozen partner college summer programs, and providing or leveraging $3.5 million in scholarship funding. For more information, please visit www.joyceivyfoundation.org or contact the Joyce Ivy Foundation at info@joyceivyfoundation.org or (734) 661-0229.