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Neam Alazawi, a biology major at the ÿ�մ���, is the campus’s first recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation’s undergraduate transfer scholarship.

The national scholarship honors excellence by supporting outstanding community college students with financial need to transfer to and complete their bachelor’s degrees at the nation’s top four-year colleges and universities.

Alazawi, who transferred to UM-Dearborn from Henry Ford Community College this year, says she’s honored and fortunate to have received the Jack Kent Cooke award.

“It is not only that the foundation is providing money to make it possible for certain students to attend college,” she said, “it is more about being part of this community and the bond one can have with other motivated and hard-working scholars and alumni. It feels so wonderful to have such a huge opportunity!”

Each scholarship is intended to cover a significant share of the student’s educational expenses – including tuition, living expenses, books and required fees – for the final two to three years necessary to achieve a bachelor’s degree, according to the Foundation’s website. Awards vary by individual, based on the cost of tuition as well as other grants or scholarships he or she may receive.

Alazawi joined the UM-Dearborn community this past summer, when she was chosen to be one of 10 students from Henry Ford Community College, Schoolcraft College and UM-Dearborn named as Honors Transfer Innovators, a group of diverse students who came together to design a new, transfer-friendly honors program at the University focusing on creativity and leadership.

The Honors Transfer Innovators spent 15 hours a week working in professional internships across the University community and met on Fridays to discuss their week and work on program development.

“Our task was to create a friendly transfer honors program for honor students transferring from Henry Ford Community College and Schoolcraft,” she said. “It was an amazing experience and definitely a great way to start networking.”