Four from AWC in line for up to $30,000

Four Arizona Western College sophomores have been named Jack Kent Cooke scholar nominees with a chance to be awarded up to $30,000.

Alfredo Vizcarra, Neenora Khibeir, Haggeo Cadenas and Miranda Labs were nominated by the AWC Honors Council for the national scholarships competition.

Each year the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation chooses 50-60 community college students for its Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship toward receiving their bachelor's degree.

Funds help pay for tuition, housing, books and other expenses at a university of their choice.

“To make the nomination, these students had to complete a long, rigorous application, which included noting a lot of community and campus involvement,” said AWC officials.

In addition to writing several creative essays, students were required to have a grade-point average of 3.5 or higher, have a significant financial need and plan to enroll as a full-time student in a baccalaureate degree program for fall 2012.

Vizcarra is a finance and accounting major at AWC, an academic coach for the AWC Cohort and a tutor in the math center. He also assists his peers in the STARS Learning Center, a nonprofit organization seeking to give students academic help. He plans to transfer to the University of Arizona to receive his degree and later move to New York City in pursuit of a career in the banking industry.

Khibeir is a political science and sociology major, a member of the Honors Program and president of Phi Theta Kappa. She is also part of student government on campus and volunteers her time at St. Francis of Assisi School. She plans to become a family law attorney after attending either Northern Arizona University or University of Detroit Mercy.

Cadenas is a psychology major and member of the Honors Program and of the Philosophical Society at AWC. He plans to attend NAU and pursue a career in counseling.

Labs is fulfilling her general education credits and plans to transfer to NAU to study nursing. Labs spends time on campus as a member of Campus Crusade for Christ and volunteers with Habitat for Humanity and Crossroads Mission.

The four students chosen agreed that they were very excited to be selected as nominees, and all hope to be one of the 60 students chosen to receive the scholarship.

Nominees will be notified in the beginning of April if they have been chosen for the scholarship.

Sarah Womer can be reached at swomer@yumasun.com or 539-6858. Find her on Facebook at Facebook.com/YSSarahWomer or on Twitter at @YSSarahWomer.