January 7, 2017
2016 SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS DINNER AND LECTURE
The three 2016 UWFA scholarship recpipients are (from left to right): Christopher Perry, Madeline Dai and Mahdi Ramadan.
The Scholarship Awards Dinner and Lecture was held on November 9th at the UW Club where a scholarship of $4,000.- was given to three enterprising undergraduate seniors of the University of Washington. Each student expressed heartfelt thanks for this help in meeting the high cost of education.
Mahdi Ramadan, a neurobiology major, was inspired by firsthand experience with cerebral palsy. He is intent on a career developing concrete applications to support brain functioning and is well on his way after an internship at the Allen Institute for Brain Science.
Madeline Dai received the Barbara Garlid Scholarship. She is studying psychology and plans to attend graduate school in order to become a licensed psychologist to help people better help themselves. She is interested in family cohesion and resilience in the face of hardship through mental health problems.
Christopher Perry was awarded the Melba Schmitz Scholarship for students in the social sciences. He is poised to receive a BA in psychology with a minor in bioethics and is planning to pursue a PhD in psychology. His areas of interest include substance abuse treatment and creating equitable conditions for minority students.
Tom Hammond‘s riveting talk ‘Glaciers of the North Cascades” capped the evening off. Tom is president of the North Cascades Conservation Council and is the field scientist for the North Cascades Glacier Climate Project. His slide show of the glaciers of Washington State, photographed over a 33 year period, needs little comment; it is a visual demonstration of the effects of recent warming trends.
As members of the Scholarship Committee, we have come away from the selection process with the staunch belief in the good of the UWFA Scholarship. We greatly appreciate its founders and donors and would like to honor their endeavor to help the next generation. By the same token, we are struck by the hard work and dedication of the applicants. Not only are they studying hard and doing well academically while working part-time, but they are also going beyond themselves to provide service to the community through projects as varied as Middle East peace camps and analyzing micro-aggression against women and minorities in the STEM classroom. These are deserving people that make us feel hopeful.
Joan Burton, Anni Fuller, Esther Neeser