Two Montgomery College (MC) students were recently named Jack Kent Cooke Scholars and will receive the prestigious Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship.
Two #MontgomeryCollege students were named @TheJKCF scholars this year—Normand Bayigamba & Luiz Mata Lopez. MC has had 20 JKC Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship winners. The scholarship can provide up to $55,000 per year toward tuition, living expenses, books, and required fees. pic.twitter.com/HXQIi1YuY0
— Montgomery College (@montgomerycoll) May 10, 2023
Normand Bayigamba and Luiz Mata Lopez, are two of just four in Maryland selected in this round to receive the national scholarship in 2023. The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation scholarship program is designed to help exemplary community college students complete their undergraduate educations with as little debt as possible. The award can provide Bayigamba and Mata Lopez with as much as $55,000 a year to complete a bachelor’s degree.
Both Bayigamba and Mata Lopez will take part in the College’s 2023 Commencement Ceremony on May 19 to receive their Associate of Arts degrees.
Bayigamba graduated from Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville and while at Montgomery College majored in general studies, with a concentration in social sciences, administration, and health. In addition to being part of the Montgomery College Renaissance Scholars Honors Program, the STEM Scholars Program and of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, Bayigamba participated in Achieving the Promise Academy at the College, and has been a research fellow in the Humanities Collaboratory at Johns Hopkins University.
Mata Lopez graduated from Col. Zadok Magruder High School in Rockville and studied computer science at the College. Mata Lopez participated in the Montgomery College Renaissance Scholars Honors Program, the STEM Scholars Program and of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. Meet Mata Lopez in this video from Montgomery College TV:
Luiz Marta Lopez was one of two @montgomerycoll students to receive the Jack Kent Cooke Award this year, which awards him up to $55,000 annually for a maximum of three years to complete his bachelor's degree🎓
Click the link below for more info:https://t.co/fN3UGGdgEZ pic.twitter.com/Muk1z1zLDF
— MontgomeryCollegeTV (@MCTVsocial) May 10, 2023
More than 1,700 students from 448 community colleges applied for the scholarship. The Foundation evaluated each submission based on students’ academic ability and achievement, financial need, persistence, and leadership.
A list of the 2023 Cooke Transfer Scholars, including their community colleges, can be found here.
(Photo courtesy Montgomery College)
