Four Honors College Graduates Win Prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Transfer Scholarship
Four recent Miami Dade College graduates—Laura Santos-Somohano, Estefano Reyes, Diana Gonzalez and Kalid Gawon—were awarded the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship.
The recipients, all Honors College alums, will receive up to $40,000 annually for living expenses, tuition, books and additional fees at their transfer schools.
“They couldn’t be more deserving of this prestigious award,” said Honors College Dean Eric Hoffman. “We couldn’t be more excited for their future.”
Eligible students had to be sophomores or recent graduates of a two-year institution in the United States, have a GPA of at least 3.5 and demonstrate unmet financial need. They must plan to enroll full-time in a baccalaureate program during the fall and have no previous enrollment at a four-year institution.
More than 1,300 applied for the scholarship this year and 72 winners were selected nationwide.
Laura Santos-Somohano
Laura Santos-Somohano lost her mother, Odalys Somohano, to cancer in Honduras when she was six. Laura and her father, Juan Santos, moved to Spain after Odalys died.
When Santos-Somohano was 12, they moved to Miami in 2014 to secure a better future. In 2017, Juan was diagnosed with cancer; he passed away shortly after.
But four years later, Laura secured the future her dad dreamt of. She won a full scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania.
“I didn’t expect to win [the Jack Kent Cooke scholarship] because I’m not a STEM student, that’s why I was surprised,” Santos-Somohan said. “My statement [showed] that I have something to say, especially for people who are like me and for people who cannot speak.”
She graduated from the Eduardo J. Padrón Campus in May with an associate’s degree in political science. At the campus, Santos-Somohano was editor-in-chief of the literary magazine Urbana.
The 19-year-old also served as president of Hermione’s Army—a chapter of the Harry Potter Alliance that teaches storytelling, equality and literacy—a senator for the Student Government Association and a member of Phi Theta Kappa, Phi Beta Lambda and Beta Beta Beta.
This summer, she will study Turkish as part of the Critical Language Scholarship Program. The program will be virtual but she will meet with professors in Turkey everyday and have conversations with her host family.
Estefano Reyes
Estefano Reyes, 23, grew up in Venezuela seeing his mother, Tailuma Madriz, suffer from Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare disorder in which the immune system attacks the nerves. He recalls seeing her struggle to walk and undergo several surgeries.
Those experiences gave him the belief that computer science can create artificial intelligence to help health professionals eradicate illnesses, ranging from COVID-19 to cancer. This fall, he will attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to complete his bachelor’s in computer science.
“As a child, I would hover around the MIT website and I always saw studying there as a dream, not a possibility,” Reyes said. “Relying on the JKC scholarship money and foundation for counseling is just magnificent.”
Reyes graduated from Padrón Campus with an associate’s degree in computer science this May. During his time at MDC, he served as president of Sigma Zeta. He was also secretary of Phi Beta Lambda, a Student Government Association senator and a member of Beta Beta Beta and Phi Theta Kappa.
This summer, he will participate in a ten-week Station1 Frontiers Fellowship where he will work on a research project alongside MIT professors and technology startup Deliberate AI.
Diana Gonzalez
Drawing was always a big part of Diana Gonzalez’s life. But when her mother, Dulnia Jimenez, was diagnosed with cancer she dedicated more time to the art form to cope with her feelings.
Gonzalez, whose mother is a cancer survivor, illustrated dead nature and realistic portraits of women. Now she plans to become a psychologist to help people understand their feelings and overcome their past through art.
“Looking back, I never imagined I’d achieve so many things toward my psychology and art passion,” Gonzalez said. “This shows that all the perseverance and nights without sleep have paid off.”
This May, she earned her associate’s degree in psychology from North Campus. She has yet to commit to a university but is considering Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, Clark University in Massachusetts and Dayton College in Ohio.
At MDC, Gonzalez served as president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Club. She was also the treasurer of the physician assistant and nursing club and a member of the minority association of pre-health students, Doctors Without Borders and the Pride Unity Club.
Gonzalez, 20, was also involved in the New School Life Program by tutoring elementary kids in math and reading for two months.
Kalid Gawon
Kalid Gawon, 18, grew up struggling with food insecurity and not having enough money to make ends meet. He and his five siblings were raised by their mother—Bilky Raji.
Being the oldest motivated him to strive for success to help his family. Someday, he hopes to create a nonprofit organization that assists single moms financially and provides them food.
“Whenever I’m going through a low moment in my life, [my family is] my rock,” Gawon said. “I’m a minority and grew up around minorities, so I just want to help people in my community the best way I can.”
Gawon graduated from North Campus in May with an associate’s degree in political science. He has been accepted into the University of Miami, Florida International University Honors Program and Claremont McKenna College in California. Gawon has yet to commit to a transfer school.
At MDC he was a member of Phi Theta Kappa, the marketing and communications association, the political science club and Model United Nations.
For the past four years, Gawon has helped elementary kids on Saturdays with reading, sports and musical activities through Achieve Miami, an organization dedicated to transforming the education system in Miami.
All of the images in this article were taken by photo editor Alice Moreno.
