The 2008 Scholarship Winners

Chelsea Dunn

I am truly grateful to receive one of the Martin Luther King, Jr.
Cultural Foundation scholarships. The money will help me a great deal
as I begin college in the fall at The University of Virginia. I plan to major in business/commerce. I chose UVA because of its academic reputation and location. I am looking forward to the challenges the next four years will bring me.

Gabriel Ekemezie

I am honored to receive this award. I plan to attend University of Pittsburgh because the school offers many tools that will help me with my educational goals. I intend to also study pre-medicine and biology. Winning this award is very significant to me because it will help me with my financial problems and ultimately help me fulfill my dreams of becoming a doctor.

Lakayla Hughes

I am pleasantly surprised that my essay was chosen and am thankful for the award. It is wonderful to receive such good news! I look forward to the luncheon and would like to thank the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Cultural Foundation Corp. and representatives, thank you.

I applied to George Mason because I plan to pursue a degree in government and international politics and saw that it was the best location for my major, within the D.C. area. The school has an excellent humanities and social sciences department and has proven to me that it offers a worth while undergraduate experience. The school also has a wonderful campus and I have met with some of the professors that I will most likely have during my freshman year. I look forward to being in their classrooms come this September.

Kyle Johnson

I will be attending the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) starting in the Fall of 2008, and plan to major in Mechanical Engineering. It is a privilege and honor to be awarded the MLK Cultural Foundation, Inc. scholarship, which will help make Georgia Tech affordable for me.

Lauren Mims

I am a senior at Chantilly High School. I am the captain of the CHS Speech and Debate team and student life editor for the CHS yearbook. Next year, I will attend the University of Virginia, where I will major in English. I live by the motto: “You must know the past in order to learn in the present.” My career goal is to become a pediatrician and, like Martin Luther King, Jr., touch the lives of many.

Victor Ndaw

I chose the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) to stay in Virginia and get the in-state tuition. This scholarship will be used as a financial aid at VCU where I am going to pursue a biology career that will lead me to become a heart surgeon. Some day I will make the difference in the world with the knowledge I will gain.

Sunniya Sudhuzai

I chose GMU because its a great campus and university that's close to home and allows me to receive a great education as well as stay close to family and friends. I want study business and major in accounting because I have always had a knack for mathematical things and found it interesting. The MLK award is blessing to me because it has brought me one step closer to achieving my dreams in receiving a higher quality education.

Kenneth Williams

I was in science class when my teacher said that I needed to go speak with the career center specialist. I had no idea what she wanted because she has never pulled me out of class before then I realized that it was April 2nd. I knew this was the day that I would be finding out about the Martin Luther King, Jr. Cultural Foundation Scholarship. My intuition was correct. The career specialist gave me the great news that I was one of the winners of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Cultural Foundation scholarship.

As soon as she told me a big smile came across my face, when I returned to class I couldn’t really focus on what the teacher was saying because all I could think of was how excited my mother would be. Receiving this scholarship will help me attain one of my goals of getting a college education from Morehouse College. I feel blessed to be one of the recipients and would like to thank everyone who was involved in the selection process and those who donated their money to make this scholarship possible.

Sharon Williams

I have been accepted for admission to Virginia Tech, Smith College and Wake Forest University. I currently plan to attend Virginia Tech and pursue a major in the field of engineering. The scholarship honor provides me with additional encouragement to strive for academic excellence and strengthens my commitment to community involvement. I hope that I can apply these life skills to help contribute a vision of resourcefulness and social responsibility to others.